An Affair of Love (2010)

The original french title was more provocative: ''Une Liaison Pornographique.'' But An Affair of Love is just as appropriate a title for this disconcertingly intimate recounting of the relationship between a nameless man (López from ''Western'') and woman (''The Return of Martin Guerre'''s Baye). The two enter a hotel room as strangers on an anonymous sexual adventure, but they exit as lovers who have misread each other tragically and pathetically.

Now, this being a quintessentially French film (even if director Frédéric Fonteyne is Belgian born and López is Spanish), monsieur and madame talk and analyze an awful lot -- even during the film's most erotic scene. But at least the talk isn't cheap: By alternating what He says to an unseen interviewer with what She says and what the neutral camera shows, Fonteyne edges closer than most to capturing the mysterious rhythms of liaisons -- pornographique, romantique, and otherwise.