The casting of Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi was a deliberate choice to blur the line between art cinema and pornography. Caroline Ducey later stated that she felt manipulated by Breillat during filming, alleging that she was not fully informed about the extent of the explicit content, though Breillat denied these claims. Upon release, Romance was met with significant controversy due to its explicit content. It received an NC-17 rating in the United States for "explicit sexual content." In some countries, it was either banned or heavily cut. The film was protested by conservative and feminist groups; some feminists praised it as radical truth-telling, while others condemned it as a form of exploitation passing as art.

| Romance | | :--- | | Theatrical release poster | | Directed by | Catherine Breillat | | Written by | Catherine Breillat | | Produced by | Jean-François Lepetit | | Starring | Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand, Rocco Siffredi | | Cinematography | Yorgos Arvanitis | | Edited by | Agnès Mouchel | | Music by | DJ Valentin (aka DJ Cam) | | Distributed by | Rézo Films (France) | | Release dates | April 14, 1999 (France), September 17, 1999 (US) | | Running time | 84 minutes | | Country | France | | Language | French | | Budget | €1.5 million (estimated) |

Feeling sexually and emotionally starved, Marie embarks on a series of humiliating and dangerous encounters. She begins an affair with an older, sexually dominant man named Robert (François Berléand), who treats her as an object. Later, she meets Paolo (Rocco Siffredi), a man with whom she experiences purely physical, anonymous sex. Throughout her journey, Marie remains clinically detached, narrating her internal thoughts about the nature of love, lust, and degradation.