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Eduardo Noriega,
Eduardo Noriega,
Anna Mouglalis,
more...
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Jean-Pierre Limosin,
Jean-Pierre Limosin
see all cast/crew...
: 
: MGM
: Comedies, Foreign, France, Spain
: 97 min.
: French
: English
see additional details...
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The nature of love and memory and how the two sensations interrelate are explored in Jean-Pierre Limosin's 2002 film Novo. Office worker Graham (Eduardo Noriega) suffered a head injury that destroyed his ability to maintain long-term memories. Falling in love with the forgetful Graham, temporary office secretary Irene (Anna Mouglalis) takes the opportunity to engage Graham in a sexual relationship that feels like the beginning of a hot romance -- with plenty of adventurous sexual encounters along the way. While Irene insists that she'll maintain the memories for both of them until Graham recovers, she begins to wonder if their romance will endure without his being able to remember any of the hot details from their short history. Novo was a chosen for inclusion into the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
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| Love & Memory (& Lots of Sex)
by talltale
November 30, 2005 - 12:03 PM PST
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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Writer/director Jean-Pierre Limosin's NOVO (co-written with Christophe Honore) is pretty damn fascinating, even if it doesn't completely cohere. Enormously sexual and full of full-frontal (don't worry, Noriega fans: while the women appear to get the most attention, Eduardo comes into his own at the finale), the film treats short-term memory loss from the sexual angle. What does it mean when your boyfriend/husband can't remember his sex mates for more than a few minutes? Is he "unfaithful" or just being human?
Interesting? Very. And it certainly gives Limosin an excuse for clever couplings and the chance for the ladies to "let go" and experiment. Which they do. Does love mean needing to have a "history" in addition to physical attraction? As the movie comes to its strange, appealing, alternately moving and cold close, all of these questions will have occurred, which adds to the intellectual, as well as sexual, stimulation. You may ask yourself, as I did, if the whole enterprise might be a way in which the writer/director can excuse his own infidelities. (He is a guy, after all, and many of us men may be tempted to agree with his "findings.") No matter: this movie's worth a look, a listen and a little longing.
A word about the cast: They're all terrific from both the photogenic and acting standpoints: Paz Vega, Anna Mouglalis, Natalie Richard, Julie Gayet and Eric Caravaca. But it's the marvelous, charismatic Noriega who helps makes the movie so light on its feet. Fully clothed or doing a nude hand-stand, he's as at ease before the camera as any actor I've seen. He's played heros, killers, cowards, crazies, intellectuals and more--from "Stories from the Kronen" to "Thesis," "Burnt Money," "Open Your Eyes," "The Devil's Backbone," "Nobody Knows Anybody," "Visionaries," and "Warriors"--never giving less then a fine performance. It'll be interesting to see what he does with the title role in the upcoming "Che Guevara." I originally rated this movie a "6" but I'm bumping it up a notch for Noriega. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.19)
21 Votes
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