En La Cama (2005) Movie Information:

En La Cama (2005) Directed by: Matias Bize En La Cama (2005) Written by: Julio Rojas En La Cama (2005) Cast: Blanca Lewin, Gonzalo Valenzuela

En La Cama (2005) U.S. Distributor: Koch Lorber En La Cama (2005) U.K. Distributor: Koch Lorber

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En La Cama (2005) Synopsis:

Daniela and Bruno, having met at a party, spend the evening in a motel making love, and divulge their secrets and attitudes about sex.

En La Cama (2005) Movie Review:

How often is it that one can be interested in the lives of others put on film, a couple having sex, talking to a large extent only each other for an 85 minute period? Not only does En La Cama fit the form of this question, it asks it, over and over again. A Spanish film from director Matias Bize, it deals with sex in a way that it seems America has forgotten, on a personal connection that can manifests itself within a short period of time and affects the parties involved for a long time afterward. It is not an instant pleasure or gratification that many mainstream American films had and still have perpetuated for many years. It is an interesting meditative film about sex, which is erotically charged, so not only is it beautiful, it is not so beautiful that it delves within us the desire to not have sex because of its consequences. While many films that have subverted that American understanding of sex, some of them are guilty of portraying it as an ultimately unsatisfying experience that is not worth getting into, or they show it to us in far too tragic detail. Don’t get me wrong, some of these films are incredible, the Brown Bunny for example. But En La Cama provides the viewer with an experience that is nearly as pleasurable as that of the people engaging in sexual activity. We know not who these people are until they divulge it to each other in bed, and not until they divulge their deepest secrets or interests do we know what occurs. Daniela and Bruno are defined in front of your eyes as if we the viewer, depending on one’s sexual desires are engaging in those intimate experiences, not just of lovemaking but of talking.
The best parts of the film occur when the couple begins to speak about different films they like, and how different people ascribe to different films, which leads them into a discussion about different situations in film, which begets yet another round of passionate sex. This of course, is not only indicative of occurs at the beginning of a relationship, just causal small talk, but also, we get a sense that the characters are turned on by more than just each other, by the way they say perhaps idiotic and insipid things, pseudo intellectual conversations that have some merit. But it also shows us how people are turned on by the prospects of situations. The situations they describe are picturesque, simple, tragic, funny, and rarely are any of them about sex. Yet they become so impassioned they latch onto one another. Is this to imply that people are merely turned on by the prospect that they can view someone else’s life, aroused by the mere act, rather than the content that centers around that act? I’m not sure, but the question it raises is an important one. After they have se again, the conversation turns into their personal lives, and of course the beautiful languid passion begins to descend into more complex emotions, of want, remembrance, and other connections that this lust has made them recall. I won’t reveal the progression, because it is too integral to the piece, but suffice it to say, that it follows what we would expect to occur in a relationship, simple understating into more complex and eventually tortured ones, in the span of a night. But it does not feel condensed, and feels all in all brilliant.
The film has it flaws, such as a scene that seems more like a music video than anything else, though I assume it is making a statement about sexuality and its presentation, it doesn’t seem as wonderful or interesting as any other part of the film. And it does seem that the film is not on the whole a focused representation, but a smattering of images, which can be to its credit, and only in certain parts doe sit feel chaotic.
Perhaps what is best about the film is that it does not make a moral statement about sex, nor does it attempt to ague that lassie faire rumpy bumpy between strangers is good, it frame sit within the two characters in a tragic yet and comic way. It does not elevates making love in a relationship, nor does it attempt to tell the viewer what is correct, we see only their conflicts, and it would erroneous to assume that there is anything holy it has to say about sex, for that is just as dangerous as saying sex is a mere casual experience hat can be passed form person to person without emotional consequences. En La Cama is a very interesting, touching film about love and sex and all of the feelings that occur in a long term relationship between two people that simply meet at a party. But it is also much, much more.
The extras, which include an equally interesting short film by the director and deleted scenes, are minimal, but do not detract from the film itself. They add a bit, but it would be perhaps more meritorious to include an essay on sex, as a supplement.

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En La Cama (2005) review written by: Brian Reis