Curiosa (2019)

Curiosa is special because it treats eroticism not as cheap provocation, but as a doorway into art, authorship, and the intoxicating moment when desire becomes a kind of language. Lou Jeunet frames turn-of-the-century France with painterly beauty—candlelit salons, sun-warmed skin, and photographic tableaux that feel like living literature—while Noémie Merlant gives Marie a fierce inner life that grows more compelling as she claims her own voice. The vibe is lush, intimate, and unapologetically sensual, less a tidy period drama than a fevered reverie about freedom and the price of it. It’s also undeniably explicit, so it won’t be for everyone, but if you can meet it on its own terms, it’s a bold, visually ravishing romance that lingers like a secret.

Curiosa is clearly aiming for a lush, liberated period romance about desire, power, and a woman carving out her voice in a restrictive society, with erotic photography as its provocative hook. The problem is it often swaps genuine emotional heat and insight for polished sensual display, so despite the costumes and elegant settings, it can feel chilly, repetitive, and more posed than lived-in. If you’re hoping for a deep, thoughtful exploration of art, images, and intimacy, you may find it frustratingly shallow and curiously unmoving, especially given how explicit it gets. That said, if you’re comfortable with very graphic nudity and want a stylish, scandal-tinged mood piece rather than a gripping drama, there’s enough atmosphere and ambition here to justify a look.