View source for Sex and Lucia

{{Short description|2001 film directed by Julio Médem}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| native_name    = {{Infobox name module|es|Lucía y el sexo|nolink=yes}}
| image          = Lucía y el sexo poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Julio Medem]]
| producer       = {{ubl|Fernando Bovaira|[[Enrique López Lavigne]]}}
| writer         = Julio Medem
| starring       = {{Plain list|
* [[Paz Vega]]
* [[Tristán Ulloa]]
* [[Najwa Nimri]]
* [[Daniel Freire]]
* [[Javier Cámara]]
* Silvia Llanos
* [[Elena Anaya]]
}}
| music          = [[Alberto Iglesias]]
| cinematography = [[Kiko de la Rica]]
| editing        = Iván Aledo
| studio         = [[Sogecine]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Sogefilms]]
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|2001|08|24}}
| runtime        = 128 minutes
| country        = Spain
| language       = Spanish
| budget         = 
| gross          = $7.6 million<ref>{{mojo title|sexandlucia|Sex and Lucia}}</ref>
}}

'''''Sex and Lucia''''' ({{langx|es|'''Lucía y el sexo'''|links=no}}) is a 2001 Spanish [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] written and directed by [[Julio Medem]], and starring [[Paz Vega]] and [[Tristán Ulloa]],<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=FILM IN REVIEW; 'Sex and Lucía'|author=Mitchell, Elvis|authorlink=Elvis Mitchell|date=12 July 2002|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/12/movies/film-in-review-sex-and-lucia.html?_r=0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://whatculture.com/film/17-sex-scenes-that-supposedly-werent-simulated?page=12 |website=What Culture |title=#7 Sex and Lucia |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160409065915/http://whatculture.com/film/17-sex-scenes-that-supposedly-werent-simulated?page=12 |archive-date=April 9, 2016}}</ref> alongside [[Najwa Nimri]], [[Daniel Freire]], [[Javier Cámara]], Silvia Llanos and [[Elena Anaya]].

==Plot==
Lucía, a waitress, is talking on the phone with her depressed writer boyfriend Lorenzo after they had a bitter argument and she walked out. Since he has been in a 'funk' for a while, she is worried and goes home to console him. Finding an empty apartment, Lucía is frantic. She receives a phone call from the police while finding a suicide note and is so afraid of bad news that she hangs up, assuming the worst. They call back, but she ignores the ringing phone, packs a bag, and flees. Looking for a new beginning, Lucía travels to the mysterious [[Balearic Islands]] that Lorenzo had always talked of, but had recently been very negative about.

Six years earlier, Lorenzo is having casual sex in the ocean on a bright moon-lit night with a beautiful married woman he had just met named Elena. They part ways, expecting never to see each other again. She discovers she is pregnant with his child, and tries to find him, but is unable to since she knows little about him.

Later, as Lorenzo talks with his literary agent at a restaurant, discussing his [[writer's block]], Lucía catches his attention as he gets up from his table to get cigarettes. She asks to speak to him and he joins her. She brazenly tells him that ever since she read his latest book, she has been following him and has fallen passionately in love with him. A smitten Lorenzo immediately engages the sexy, passionate Lucía and she moves into Lorenzo's apartment.

The film then interweaves the past and present, both of the characters in the film, and of the characters in Lorenzo's novel.

Lorenzo repeatedly stalls for time on his new book with his editor, while his relationship with Lucía deepens. About six years pass. Lorenzo learns he has a daughter as a result of his encounter with Elena and begins to visit the child outside of her school, meeting her babysitter Belén.

Belén tells Lorenzo her mother is a recently retired [[pornography|porn]] actress with a new hot boyfriend, and virtually seduces Lorenzo with chatter of sexual context and banter about her fantasies. Lorenzo uses these encounters and his fantasies about Belén and her mother as content for his book, and Lucía reads about it, thinking it fiction. Meanwhile, he does not disclose his fatherhood to Lucía or the child, nor even attempt to contact Elena.

Belén flirts with Lorenzo and eventually invites him over to Elena's house while she babysits his daughter, Luna. Lorenzo tells Luna a bedtime story, and after she falls asleep, he and Belén begin to have sex. They are interrupted as Luna knocks at the bedroom door, and they watch in horror as the family dog, a large [[Rotweiler]] in 'protect mode', kills Luna. Belén is stunned. Lorenzo runs away and falls into a deep depression.

Lorenzo's writing turns dark, towards depraved sex and death. He anonymously contacts Elena, who has moved to the island to find solace and recall better days and provides her a nice story about a beautiful child that loves to swim in the sea, to cheer her spirits. But his now guilt-ridden and uncommunicative relationship with Lucía begins to collapse.

Back in the present, Lucía meets a [[Scuba diving|scuba diver]] on the island, Carlos, and through him, Elena, who runs an inn on the island. Lucía rents a room, and the women bond as friends, not knowing their intimate connection. But when Lucía mentions Lorenzo by name, and his past visit to the island long ago, Elena deduces the connection. Lucía sees a picture of Luna (looking remarkably like her father and remembering the name from Lorenzo's novel) and she makes the connection too.

Lorenzo's editor visits Lorenzo in the hospital, where he was taken after being in an 'accident', spending several weeks in recovery. When Lorenzo asks about Lucía, the editor tells Lorenzo that Lucía probably thinks he is dead.

Lorenzo guesses Lucía is on the island and has the editor take him there. After both women discover that Lorenzo isn't dead, the three characters cope with and finally understand the entanglements of their interwoven relationships.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Paz Vega]] as Lucía{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Tristán Ulloa]] as Lorenzo{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Najwa Nimri]] as Elena{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Daniel Freire]] as Carlos / Antonio{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Elena Anaya]] as Belén{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* Silvia Llanos as Luna{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Javier Cámara]] as Pepe{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* Diana Suárez as Madre de Belén{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* [[Juan Fernández Mejías|Juan Fernández]] as Jefe{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* María Álvarez as Nurse{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* Alesandra Álvarez (Luna age 1){{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
* David Bulnes (porn actor){{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}
}}

== Production ==
The film was produced by Sogecine, the production arm of [[Sogecable]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://ae-ic.org/malaga2010/upload/ok/447.pdf|chapter=El papel de la televisión en las políticas de fomento de la industria cinematográfica en España|first1=Jessica|last1=Izquierdo Castillo|first2=Andreu|last2=Casero Ripollés|title=Comunicación y desarrollo en la era digital: congreso AE-IC. 3, 4 y 5 de febrero de 2010|year=2010|isbn=978-84-614-2818-2|language=es}}</ref> Shooting locations included [[Fuerteventura]] and [[Madrid]].{{Sfn|Stone|2007|p=218}}

The Cap de Barbaria Lighthouse on [[Formentera]] was a pivotal filming location for the film, and served as the touchstone for the various characters' interwoven relationships.<ref>{{cite web |title=Far Del Cap de Barbaria |url=https://www.illesbalearsfilm.org/en/locations/far-del-cap-de-barbaria |website=Illes Balears Film Commission |access-date=21 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Basté |first1=Jordi |title=Tras los pasos de 'Lucía y el sexo´en Formentera |url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/cine/20140810/54412854798/verano-de-cine-lucia-y-el-sexo.html |work=La Vanguardia |date=9 August 2014 |language=es}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Critical response===
[[Review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film an approval rating of 71% based on 70 reviews, with a [[weighted arithmetic mean|weighted average]] of 6.5/10. The site's consensus states: "Beneath the gratuitous nudity lies a complex and visually striking movie."<ref>{{rotten-tomatoes|sex_and_lucia|Sex and Lucia}}</ref> [[Metacritic]], which uses an average of 28 critics' reviews, gives the film a 65 out of 100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{Metacritic film|title=Sex and Lucia}}</ref>

===Accolades===
{{Awards table|5}}
|-
| align = "center" rowspan = "15" | 2002 || rowspan = "11" | [[16th Goya Awards]] || colspan = "2" | [[Goya Award for Best Film|Best Film]] || {{nom}} || align = "center" rowspan = "11" | <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/lucia-y-el-sexo|access-date=17 June 2022|title=Lucía y el sexo|publisher=[[Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España]]|website=[[Goya Awards|premiosgoya.com]] |language=es}}</ref>
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Director|Best Director]] || Julio Medem || {{nom}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] || Julio Medem || {{nom}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] || Tristán Ulloa || {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan = "2" | [[Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] || Najwa Nimri || {{nom}}
|-
| Elena Anaya || {{nom}} 
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best New Actress|Best New Actress]] || Paz Vega || {{won}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]] || Alberto Iglesias || {{won}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]] || Kiko de la Rica || {{nom}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]] || Iván Aledo || {{nom}}
|-
| [[Goya Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] || Agustín Peinado, Alfonso Pino, Santiago Thevenet, Polo Aledo || {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan = "4" | 11th [[Actors and Actresses Union Awards|Actors Union Awards]] || Best Film Performance in a Leading Role || Paz Vega || {{nom}} || rowspan = "4" | <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.libertaddigital.com/cultura/2002-03-03/paz-vega-victoria-abril-y-pilar-lopez-de-ayala-compiten-de-nuevo-por-un-premio-62451/|website=[[Libertad Digital]]|title=Paz Vega, Victoria Abril y Pilar López de Ayala compiten de nuevo por un premio|date=3 March 2002|language=es}}</ref><ref name="winners2002">{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2002/03/05/espectaculos/1015282803_850215.html|title=La Unión de Actores premia la trayectoria profesional de Adolfo Marsillach|date=5 March 2002|first=Rosana|last=Torres|website=[[El País]] |language=es}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan = "2" | Best Film Performance in a Secondary Role || Elena Anaya || {{won}}
|-
| Najwa Nimri || {{nom}}
|-
| Best Film Performance in a Minor Role || Javier Cámara || {{nom}}
|}

== See also ==
* [[List of Spanish films of 2001]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qVOP086WJUC&pg=PA218|title=Spanish and Latin American Filmmakers: Julio Medem|first=Rob|last=Stone|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|location=Manchester and New York|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7190-7200-0}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0254455}}
* {{mojo title|sexandlucia}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|sex_and_lucia}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* [http://www.sexandlucia.com/ Oficial website]

{{Julio Medem}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sex And Lucia}}
[[Category:2001 films]]
[[Category:2001 independent films]]
[[Category:2001 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:2001 drama films]]
[[Category:2000s erotic drama films]]
[[Category:2000s Spanish films]]
[[Category:2000s Spanish-language films]]
[[Category:Erotic romance films]]
[[Category:Fiction with unreliable narrators]]
[[Category:Films directed by Julio Medem]]
[[Category:Films set in the Balearic Islands]]
[[Category:Films shot in the Canary Islands]]
[[Category:Films shot in Madrid]]
[[Category:Films scored by Alberto Iglesias]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Sogecine films]]
[[Category:Spanish erotic drama films]]
[[Category:Spanish independent films]]
[[Category:Spanish nonlinear narrative films]]
[[Category:Spanish romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Films set in lighthouses]]
[[Category:Spanish-language romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Spanish-language erotic drama films]]