Fragments of Love

Two people with different approaches to relationships fall in love in debut director Fernando Vallejo's erotic drama. Rodrigo (José Ángel Bichir), a frustrated composer, enters the orbit of Susana (Angelica Blandon), a sculptor, when he visits her fiancé's apartment to tune his piano. During the visit, he learns that she and Isaias (Alfredo De Quesada) are preparing to relocate to Shanghai. After asthmatic Rodrigo rescues Susana from an explosion, they fall into each other's arms both literally and figuratively. While unexplained terrorist attacks have Bogotá on edge, their tryst develops into an affair. Each time they meet, Susana tells Rodrigo a story about a different lover, which drives him crazy. Seriocomic flashbacks depict these encounters, including flings with a philosopher, an ornithologist, and a man studying for the priesthood. When Rodrigo complains to Carmen (Angélica Aragón), she tells him to stop asking Susana to talk about her past, but he can't seem to help himself. Carmen, who is older, treats Rodrigo like a son or nephew, but Vallejo never clarifies their connection, other than that she's the closest thing he has to a support system. Cumulatively, Susana's stories torture Rodrigo, who smokes and mopes, but they also turn him on, and in due time, he's composing again. Unfortunately, both characters become increasingly less sympathetic as Susana cheats on Rodrigo and he turns his petulant child act up a few notches. Still, this adaptation of Héctor Abad Faciolince's 1998 novel Fragmentos de Amor Furtivo has its moments, making it a strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)