I will reveal plot details after a warning.
Romance is one of the best films (maybe the only) to explore female sexuality. It asks, what are a woman's sexual needs? Is sex an important part of a loving relationship? And, why is pornography so disgusting (especially since there are so many things much more repugnant)?
As for a woman's sexual needs, the protagonist is stuck, in the beginning, in a relationship where her boyfriend is uninterested in sex altogether. The problems they have in bed cause problems outside their relationship. Her boyfriend's lack of interest leads her to seek fulfillment elsewhere. But does she find it? The ending is fascinating, confusing, contradictory, conflicting, and murky--much like female sexuality.
[EXTENDED ANALYSIS: PLOT DETAILS REVEALED]
Our protagonist, Marie, begins trapped in a sexless relationship. But, she is a woman! Do women crave, yearn, desire sexual release in the same way men do? Marie thinks she does and pursues her desires. Her first fling is with a character played by Rocco Siffredi. Rocco is a porn star in real life and has the goods to prove it. Even though he is a beautiful man, has a beautiful body, Marie does not find fulfillment with him.
Eventually, she comes to meet a man who is a self-described stud. This man claims the ability to please women--and he means sexually. He is not, as he himself says, attractive, or extraordinary, save he knows how to please women.
His technique is mechanical; he is a technician. He has sex with Marie by elaborately restraining her and manipulating her with his hands. He doesn't even take his clothes off! It is not necessary; he does what he does only to please her. Although his attentions temporarily please Marie, she still craves sex with her boyfriend.
What does this say about female sexuality? There is not an easy answer. Marie does find sexual release, but it is only mechanical--in this, she finds that the body alone may have needs. She still craves something more, and she looks to her boyfriend to provide it.
What are her feelings for her boyfriend? There is a mixture of love and deep hatred. Perhaps Marie's hatred stems solely from his inability to sexually please, but it is not clear. Her emotions, sexuality, passions are a jumble of intertwined contradictions.
Marie's desire for her boyfriend may come from his physical qualities: he is a professional model. In the beginning, the film ogles and "objectifies" (to borrow a feminist cliché) him. He is so pretty that the audience can easily mistake him for a woman, at first. But, what does she see in him? The film provides no easy answers. Again, a realistic portrayal of female sexuality.
The ending of Romance makes the single greatest pro-pornography statement to ever appear in the cinema. Throughout the film, we see many pornographic images, from nudity to intercourse. When Marie gives birth, we see a closeup of the entire affair: nothing is spared, making this the most graphic birth scene ever shot. The audience sees the same vagina that was previously engaged in sexual intercourse passing a child, and then afterbirth. The audience is confronted with the question, what is more disgusting: watching a penis enter this vagina or watching a baby come out?
An interview with Catherine Breillat