Murphy is an American cinema school student, living in Paris. He had a French girlfriend, called Electra, whom he dated for two years. One day, they met and had a no-strings-attached threesome with another woman, a young blonde Danish teenager named Omi, as a way to add some excitement to their love life. But later, he had sex with her behind Electra’s back, as a result of which Omi became pregnant. This unplanned pregnancy ended the relationship between Murphy and Electra on a horrible note, and it forced Murphy to marry Omi. In one morning, Electra’s mother, Nora, phones him to ask if he’s heard from Electra, because she hasn’t heard from her for three months, and given her daughter’s suicidal tendencies. For the rest of this day, he recalls his past two years with Electra in a series of fragmented, nonlinear flashbacks; how they first met in Paris, their quick hookup, and their lives over the next two years which is filled with drug abuse, rough sex and tender moments.
Gaspar Noé said that he did not direct the actors having sex or choreograph them. He said he just put them in their positions with respect to the camera and then say, “Okay, looks good, start the scene. Let’s go.” He added, “Once you put the people in the right positions it’s okay. They know how to do it.”
