The Rundown: ‘Second Chance’ (VOD Exclusive)
Basics
Anna Polina steps into the Marc Dorcel director’s chair for the first time in this steamy relationship drama! As the movie opens, Alexandra (Carollina Cherry) is dealing with a breakup that smashes her life into a thousand fragments. In an effort to put it back together, she moves in with a friend (Cleau Gaultier), whose sexually liberated circle helps Alexandra come out of her shell. Sex scenes are interspersed with philosophical exchanges of dialogue as the main characters contemplate the nature of love, sex, and life. Because in the end, don’t we all deserve a Second Chance?
Scene highlight(s)
It’s difficult to discuss the sex in Second Chance without divulging plot points, so steer clear if you want to experience the movie’s twists as they develop. Of the five hardcore sequences, it’s hard to resist spotlighting the one featuring one of Dorcel’s most popular stars, Clea Gaultier. In scene three, Alexandra and Clea take their friendship to an intimate new level with an explicit yoga session. Though passionate, the sequence has the feel of two friends exploring each other physically without allowing their emotions to weigh too heavily. In that sense, it acts as the figurative centerpiece of Alexandra’s effort to get over her split.
Ricky Mancini makes a brief but memorable appearance as Alexandra’s cold-hearted boyfriend in scene one. (His character is perhaps the first person in history to disdain a life in gorgeous central Paris, with a pornstar beauty on his arm!) Scene two finds Alexandra spying on her roommate’s threesome, while scenes four and five take us inside Parisian sex clubs. (Here, the movie veers into reassuringly familiar Dorcel terrain.)
Quotable
“Do you know what your problem is, Alexandra? It’s that you’re lying to yourself. You still think you’re the little princess from last night, when you’re just a crazy person that can’t even get dressed to have a conversation [ . . . ] Listen, it’s over. I don’t want to hurt you or make you upset, but I want to move on and have other adventures. And we have to admit it — us two, it doesn’t work . . . ” (Alexandra’s boyfriend calls it quits)
Why we love it
Who among us can’t identify with the pain of a breakup? Dorcel takes this eminently relatable experience and expands it into another exciting, involving porn feature. We readily slip into the world of our Parisian heroine, who finds the city’s famous glow dulled by the end of her relationship. It would be easy for the movie to offer a romantic, storybook ending, but instead it finds a darker, more adventurous path. Clea Gaultier’s supporting role is memorable but never overshadows Carolina Cherry’s sensitive protagonist. Additionally, on a pure “bang for buck” level, Polina packs an impressive five sex scenes into a movie that runs just 90 minutes. We can only hope that this is the first in a long series of directorial efforts by Polina!
