With cool precision and stunning intimacy, Catherine Breillat's ROMANCE paints a provocative portrait of a young French woman, Marie, and her journey to gain control of her life. Claiming he loves her, but that he has lost his desire for her, Marie's boyfriend, Paul, refuses to engage in sexual relations, catapulting Marie into a desperate search for intimacy and erotic connection. Humiliated by Paul's cruel power play, Marie embarks on an escalating sexual journey that tests her own physical and emotional limits, and which, through an ironic twist-of-fate, eventually leads her to fulfillment.