Marie, a school teacher, is in a romantic relationship with Paul, but she is disappointed in his comparative lack of interest in sexual activity.

The two begin engaging in BDSM until Marie asks him to stop, though she confesses to have imagined what it's like to be bound and implies that she enjoyed being gagged.

Apparently, Ducey began the film thinking that it would also be an exit from the sexual relationship she was in, but then decided while it was being made that she wanted to stay with her boyfriend.

In Europe, Romance was released mainstream; in the United States, it was reduced to a mainstream-acceptable R rating, and the European original version is unrated.

[7][8] In June 2008, in the Netherlands, the original version was broadcast on Dutch public TV by VPRO as one of a series of Erotica arthouse cinema.

[citation needed] In 2024, Ducey published the autobiographical book La Prédation (nom féminin, translatable to The Predation (Feminine Noun).

Ducey says she felt paralyzed in her movements and speech, while she still kept a modicum of consciousness, and that she jolted back to her senses because of the sound of tape running out, before threatening the actor to stop.

Ducey writes about seeing director Breillat masturbate the male actor so he could maintain an erection throughout the second take, which started right after, and was fully simulated, this time around.