Curiosa

“Curiosa” is a French marked erotic drama directed by Lou Jeunet released in 2019. The plot is a loose interpretation of the love story between Ierre Louÿs, a writer and photographer known for his sensual pieces, and Marie de Régnier, a French poet and novelist. The film takes place in belle Époque Paris and serves to depict the laizzes faire of sexuality as well as the extremes of obsession in art, illustrating the clash of a person’s will and social expectations.

Plot Summary

Marie de Reigner (Noemai Merlant) is the daughter of Jose Maria de Heredia, an esteemed poet, and a member of a well known literary family. With such parental background, it is expected for Marie to get married to a socially acceptable candidate. However, like many people in the postmodern era, she is a nonconformist.

Caught in a love triangle with two opposing men, Marie struggles to make sense of her romantic desires.

Pierre Louÿs, a risqué modern poetry lover and photographer, embodies freedom. (Played by Niels Schneider)

Henri de Raigner (Benjamin Lavernhe), on the other side, is more of a family oriented popular writer.

Although Louis has a fluency in eroticism, it is him whom she engages with in an affair while being married to Henri. Their sexual involvement takes the form of provocative art piece proposed by Louis which combines sadism, voyeurism and feminine domination. In the world carved by Louis, Marie gets to be a participant and a victim in secretive erotism when Pierre takes pictures of her and her imagination runs wild.

The escalation of their relationship comes with the dismantling of the conflict surrounding her identity as a wife, public figure, and a liberated woman. She takes on the role of a writer, a muse, and most importantly, a woman who rejects the expectations of society. She starts to craft her own story.

Main Characters

• Marie de Régnier (Noémie Merlant) – A passionate thinker who finds herself at the intersection of paradoxical social demands and her own needs.
• Pierre Louÿs (Niels Schneider) – Outrageous sensualist who perceives delight as the most exalted form of his art.
• Henri de Régnier (Benjamin Lavernhe) – Marie’s husband, formal still a poet. An emotionally restrained man who promises her a stable life but lacking in passion.
• Zohar (Camélia Jordana) – Pierre’s ex-lover who deepens the intrigue between Marie and Pierre and makes both their lives more complicated.

Themes and Tone

Curiosa is more than a gendered historical drama—it is a manifestation of eroticism, creativity, and female independence. The film examines:

• The female gaze: The transformation of Marie from an object of silence into an active maker.
• Eroticism as liberation: Socially vibrant and sensual expressions of the characters that are used to transgress the boundaries of societal norms.
• The conflict between art and public morals: The societal expectation of restrained civility when it comes to creative expression during the beautified period of France known as the Belle Époque.

Although graphics depicting sexual scenes are present in the film, they are not intended only for erotic viewing, rather, they are narrated artfully offering a dialogue between power and passion. Thoughtful camera angles, most often from Marie’s perspective, capture, and intensely focus on her metamorphosis into a being who owns her image and more importantly, her self-worth.

Cinematography and Music

Curiosa is visually spellbinding. The soft natural light and warm color palettes paired with the fact that it is set in a time that is accurately represented makes it more captivating. The intimate and authentic erotic photographs are stylized like vintage postcard which adds further seductiveness to the film.

Arnaud Rebotini’s score was quiet, but certainly well done, providing an atmospheric background to the film. This is further exemplified by the underlying tones of the dialogue and visuals being the main focus of the film and taking center stage.

Reception

The film indeed leaned vertically on the sensual imagery without constructing its emotional scaffolding, which is why it received a stark mix of reviews. Critics did not hold back, praising Noémie Merlant’s performance with great lauds, and also praising the imagery used in the film, but felt it dominated too heavily on sensual imagery.

Nonetheless, the film is a piece of bold and artistic cinema, meant for creation enthusiasts who enjoy watching revealing historical feminist dramas.

Final Thoughts

Curiosa examines the intersections of pleasure and power with a woman’s agency achieved in a man’s world through body, words, and art. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but for admirers of sophisticated period dramas, literary fervor, and the unabashed intricacies of passion, Curiosa is a film unparalleled.