Lilith Likes to Watch - Q AKA Desire


Title: Q AKA Desire
Year: 2011
Starring: Déborah Révy, Hélène Zimmer, Gowan Didi
Director: Laurent Bouhnik
Synopsis: In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cecile, a character who symbolizes desire. - Via IMDB
Lilith's Notes: Its one of the few mainstream films with unsimulated sex, and was one of the first French language erotic films I had seen.

"I don't feel anything."

I first watched this film years ago, and save for one really exceptional scene, I remember it just sort of existing. So, I decided to revisit it.

Q aka Desire is about a group of people who live in town that's seeing a good helping of poverty. Our cast of characters include Matt, a mechanic with a frigid girlfriend named Alice. Chance, a petty car thief, and of course, Cecile, a sad little nympho who fucks whoever she wants in an attempt to escape her own grief over the passing of her father.

Everyone in this film is annoying. They all like to toy with one another. Alice is mousy and unlikable. She comes across as pathetic. She's used by Matt, then used by Cecile and barely seems like a character at all. Chance is brash and just wanders around and has better chemistry with his stoner friend. Matt is simply an asshole.

This movie has a slow build up that makes it feel like it is going to end in a killing spree or someone's death. So, in a way I guess that's a good thing as it lends a sense of tension to the film.

There's one scene where Cecile and Chance are fucking, and she demands it harder, and that he hit her. Finally she breaks down and admits she doesn't feel anything. It's a small moment of vulnerability for her and it works. It shows why she does what she does. Unfortunately for me, it's not enough to endear me to either Cecile nor Chance.

Near the middle of the film, Cecile meets a married man. She gives him her panties. The man goes home with his wife and mentions Cecile. He tries to initiate sex but she says she's not ready. She suffered some undefined tragedy and from the way her husband touches her I think it was a miscarriage. The couple begin fantasizing about using Cecile as he caresses his wife intimately. She climaxes, then cries.

This scene was what stuck out to me when I first saw the film. This scene is one of the best erotic scenes I had ever watched. This scene carries the movie for me.

Cecile and the married man meet on screen once more and actually fuck. His wife finds Cecile and they have a conversation. She says her husband talks about Cecile and Cecile says the same about her. Only, there's no scene of that. There needs to be a second meet up with the husband, showing that they actually talk and not just fuck. It would provide some growth to Cecile and clarify some plot points.

Cecile manipulates Alice into helping her get the husband and wife back together, then Cecile helps Alice fuck Matt. Then, randomly, Cecile is hosting a brothel but Chance pulls her out of the place and Cecile releases her father's ashes.

It is utterly amazing how one scene can elevate a movie. If not for that scene with the husband and wife fantasizing together, this movie would easily be a 2, but that scene stuck with me for years, extremely clearly in my mind. It remained one of my favourite scenes of film erotica to this day.

LILITH'S SCORE: 3/5

NEXT TIME: We venture into the subversive '90s with Threesome.





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