Sex and Lucía

It is unfortunate that this Spanish language (with English subtitles) feature has gotten so much press for its sex scenes (and, in fact, has been released unrated here), because it is actually a much better movie than that. Yes, there are a few sequences that would not pass muster on even the racier cable channels, but they amount to literally a few minutes of screen time, and their loss would have in no way diminished the movie. I mention this because “Sex and Lucia” is actually a very entertaining fable about love and loss and deserves a wider audience than it is likely to get. Lucía (Paz Vega) receives the news that her lover, Lorenzo (Tristán Ulloa) has been killed. In despair, she flees to a beautiful island, where she hopes to heal. There she meets Elena and Carlos, and it turns out that they are linked in far more ways than any of them could have imagined. The movie unfolds slowly and deliberately, jumping back and forth in time, and revealing one connection after another. It helps to pay attention, but the puzzle is (mostly) sorted out by the end. Written and directed by Julio Medem, “Sex and Lucía” is involving, sexy, great looking, and has more substance than even its own marketing would suggest.