Simple Passion review – erotic drama spends too long spinning its wheels

Fittingly enough for a film about a relationship doomed to go nowhere, Simple Passion sure spends a lot of time spinning its wheels. Writer-director Danielle Arbid adapts Annie Ernaux’s scandalous but very short novella with boldness and verve, but proves unable to add enough padding to earn its feature length runtime.

French university professor Helene (Laetita Dosch) risks her job, family, and dignity in a wildly passionate affair with Russian diplomat Aleksandr (Sergei Polunin). She comes whenever he calls, always on his schedule, her attraction to him swiftly becoming an obsession. This should be a premise that lends itself to a gripping drama, but Simple Passion is far too repetitive to hold much interest.

There are, essentially, three scenes in the movie. Helene is at some social or professional obligation when Aleksandr calls, she leaves the obligation to have sex with him, he leaves and she has to face her disappointed, neglected son. This exact cycle plays out over and over again, and there are only so many times you can watch these identical moments before you tune out.

Dosch gives a forceful performance – an early therapy session is particularly compelling – and the sex scenes themselves are very well-handled, incredibly erotic and explicit without ever feeling uncomfortably porn-like. Arbid also conjures up some great visuals, cross-fades and faint reflections melding one scene into the next, as if you’re sharing in Helene’s love-drunk haze.

Ultimately, though, these tricks don’t prove enough to keep you invested, especially as the more overt stylistic tics are done away with after about the halfway mark, and you’re left with an interminable drama featuring two barely likeable characters. For a drama built on fervent sex and desperate longing, Simple Passion sure is boring.

Simple Passion is now streaming on Curzon Home Cinema.