★★★★★★★★★★6/10

Late one evening, two women in Rome find themselves at a crossroads. Having just met in a bar, Alba (Elena Anaya) invites a reluctant Natasha (Natasha Yarovenko) up to her hotel room. Both are leaving town the next day. It’s all longing and knowing looks, both sensual and suspenseful. The focus alternates between the two women and it’s utterly electric.

This is a fantasy and not in a male lecherous way. It’s the feeling of being swept away by a stranger and connecting with them on levels both physical and spiritual. The leads in this movie are two women but could easily have been a hetero or gay pair.

When the physical intensity ebbs, they share their personal stories. Originally, they know nothing of each other nor do they want to. When the suspension of reality gives way to truths, their one-night stand may be more than they’re willing to admit. Perhaps it’s true love. If it is, are they willing to make life changing choices to continue their fantasy? Would you?

Maximo the room service guy. Always helpful.

Anaya and Yarovenko share some pretty hot chemistry. Anaya is the stronger actress of the two. Perhaps it’s the script or that they’re not speaking their native tongues, but their interactions felt stunted. Because it’s just the two actresses their performances need to be stronger.  Fortunately, the women are quite unworldly beautiful. The only thing more alluring than the women is the room is itself. It’s simply sumptuous and decadently adorned.

Technically, this is some finely crafted film making. Realistically the room is small but it never feels claustrophobic. The mood is enhanced by backlighting and shadows. Directory Julien Medem knows his way around sexy topics like his 2001’s Sex and Lucia. Anaya also stars in that film. This film was based on Chilean Matías Bize’s 2005 En la Cama (In the Bed). In that story, it’s a hetero couple that find themselves in a Santiago motel.

This film is visually gorgeous but the writing falls short. The script could have used more depth and trimmed 20 minutes off its length. The original idea is solid and I wanted to like this film more. The characters constantly seemed to be on the verge of making that connection to make this film blossom from an okay to a great film. The one-night stand I absolutely bought, the progression to something greater fell well short. Fortunately it has just enough to elevate it past eye candy.

Becareful of this trailer. It’s clearly edited for a US audience. If you’re expecting this the film to be like this trailer, you’ll be very dissapointed.

For a silly comparison between this film and En La Cama check out the Film Faceoff: Room in Rome vs. En La Cama (In Bed).

The movie makes a big point of using Microsoft Bing maps. It’s obvious they were using Google Earth but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried to recreate the way they were using it.  I can confidently say as of the time of this posting, no such ability exists on Bing maps and it’s confirmed it was Google Earth being used. I’ve recreated the maps they pulled up in the movie for your geeky viewing pleasure. The locations are real but not surprisingly the places are made up. As always they’re fully functioning Google maps, so click, zoom, expand, etc.

Hotel Pompeo – the “room” in Rome, Italy

Natasha’s home on Ostrov Nekrasov, Russia

Alba’s home in San Sebastián, Spain

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