Curiosa

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1:36

Curiosa

2021

1h 47m

History

Drama

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Popcornmeter

40%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

35%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Paris 1895. Pierre Louÿs is a Parisian dandy and poet on the verge of fame. Pierre and his friend Henri De Régnier are both madly in love with Marie de Heredia (Noemie Merlant), the cheeky daughter of their mentor. Despite her feelings for Pierre, Marie eventually marries Henri who has a better situation. Badly hurt, Pierre leaves for Algeria where he meets Zohra, a bewitching local girl with whom he shares a tumultuous relationship and a passion for erotic photography. One year later, Marie still has weak feelings for her husband and Pierre comes back to Paris with Zohra. As soon as Marie hears the news, she rushes to see Pierre and confesses that she kept herself for him. They quickly start an affair and a game of cat and mouse between many players begins, full of desire, jealousy and photography. They will build their future selves by transgressing the established codes, how far will they go?

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André Hereford

Metro Weekly (Washington, DC)

08/16/2021

2/5

Everybody's getting it on in Lou Jeunet's frisky period romance Curiosa, an awkward commentary on female sexual liberation.

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Gary M. Kramer

Gay City News

08/15/2021

"Curiosa" feels like a missed opportunity to showcase risqué sexual behavior in 19th century France. That the film portrays real people but provides little insight into them is also a drawback.

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Leslie Combemale

AWFJ.org

08/14/2021

2/5

Lou Jeunet's woefully off-target and ponderously slow French Curiosa aims for historical illumination, sex positivity, & strong feminist energy, and misses the mark in nearly every way.

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Ayeen Forootan

In Review Online

08/11/2021

Truly, it's almost impossible to see, feel, or read anything profound into a film that's so pleased with only mere voyeurism and exhibitionist spectacle.

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Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

08/11/2021

4/5

This unabashedly erotic French film looks at the sizzling love affair between two famed writers who pushed the boundaries of expression and sexuality in the 19th century.

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Josh Bell

Crooked Marquee

08/10/2021

C+

There's copious nudity, but not much passion.

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Juris O

@Juris100 Jul 16

What a waste of time. The film is worthless.

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Latro S

@RT69050539 01/13/2025

One of the worst collection of scenes I have ever witnessed on all streaming services. No matter how long I watched it for, the sensation of having wasted precious time only grew stronger.

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James G

@RT86792332 10/03/2024

The movie is a confusing, boring exposition dump of a story with seemingly no goal. Henri's decision to stay with Marie even when he knows she's cheating on him is in no way set up, alluded to or makes sense for his character. This is just one of the many decisions made in the story that are inconsistent with the characters' behaviours and traits as we are introduced to them. The story does not achieve anything, throughout the events of the plot, many decisions are made by the characters which end up having little to no impact on the overall plot, leaving the viewer confused as to why they had to watch these events in the first place. The ending is garbage as well, none of the problems created by Marie and Pierre's relationship are solved and the characters seem to finish the film in a worse way then they started it. This would be okay if there was a message behind this ending, but there is none. Please don't waste your time watching this film

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Lou Jeunet

Director

Noémie Merlant

Marie de Heredia

Niels Schneider

Pierre Louÿs

Benjamin Lavernhe

Henri de Régnier

Camélia Jordana

Zohra Ben Brahim

Amira Casar

Madame de Heredia

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Synopsis

Paris 1895. Pierre Louÿs is a Parisian dandy and poet on the verge of fame. Pierre and his friend Henri De Régnier are both madly in love with Marie de Heredia (Noemie Merlant), the cheeky daughter of their mentor. Despite her feelings for Pierre, Marie eventually marries Henri who has a better situation. Badly hurt, Pierre leaves for Algeria where he meets Zohra, a bewitching local girl with whom he shares a tumultuous relationship and a passion for erotic photography. One year later, Marie still has weak feelings for her husband and Pierre comes back to Paris with Zohra. As soon as Marie hears the news, she rushes to see Pierre and confesses that she kept herself for him. They quickly start an affair and a game of cat and mouse between many players begins, full of desire, jealousy and photography. They will build their future selves by transgressing the established codes, how far will they go?

Director: Lou Jeunet
Producer: Olivier Delbosc, Christine De Jekel, Emilien Bignon
Screenwriter: Lou Jeunet, Raphaëlle Desplechin
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Playtime, Curiosa Films
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 13, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 13, 2021
Runtime: 1h 47m

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