Leila is a sexually voracious young woman who connects with men through brief physical encounters. One night at a crowded house party, Leila meets David and its lust at first sight. Later, as she has casual sex with a stranger just behind the house, David and his girlfriend mirror her actions in their car. Leila and David’s eyes lock as they watch each other having sex with others, a courtship ritual that initiates their own sexual affair.

Seduction is easy and very satisfying. Leila and David get to know each other — which means being intimate — in bed, at the park, on the roof, everywhere. For them, and for other members of their generation, sex is a form of communication. But Leila starts to realize that her attachment to David is different from anything she’s experienced before, and David is just as serious about her. For the first time, they experience needs and desires that go beyond the physical. It is an emotional connection they crave.

Afraid of the feelings they have unleashed in each other, they retreat to the safety of their former lives. Real life, and the messiness of emotional attachments, have punctured their sexual and romantic bubble and threaten to keep the lovers apart. David’s father dies after a long illness and he turns to his ex-girlfriend for support. Leila, meanwhile, is distracted by her parents’ looming divorce.

Leila and David are trapped between two worlds. Anonymous sex, or sex without context, is losing its appeal. But a conventional approach to commitment – marriage and the seemingly inevitable divorce that follows, as evidenced by Leila’s parents — is not the answer. They set out to find a way to build lust and love, spontaneity and substance, into a new life together.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

World Premiere, Toronto International Film Festival, September 2005

International Premiere, Berlin International Film Festival, February 2006