Two friends, Jaime and Marcos, both studying painting at an art school in Valencia, decide to use a two-pronged hook-up strategy on a female fellow student, Josey. The handsome, sensitive, upper-class Marcos is the bait in their honey-trap, but unfortunately he's impotent - so dogged, workmanlike Jaime steps into the breach when Marcos fails to consummate the seduction. Consequently the trio become an unlikely item, and concoct rules to deal with the lopsided asymmetry of their triangular relationship. Various issues arise, but the group dynamic is kept in balance by Josey's inability to have orgasms within the arrangement, much to the frustration of Jaime who prides himself on his prowess as a sexual swordsman. The three of them engage in a series of shallow, self-important discussions about art, life and love as the affair progresses, but "3some" doesn't convey that the relationship is either credible or valuable, since they keep making big mountains out of small molehills. The film's glibness is exemplified in the sequence where Marcos' longstanding impotence is suddenly and implausibly cured - not in a moment of safety and intimacy - but with a hurried encounter in the bathroom during an awkward visit to Josey's parents' small apartment. The balance shifts after this episode, and fracture lines begin to appear. Unfortunately for "3some", it's hard to believe very much is at stake when the tensions manifest in petulant jealousy, dishonesty and broken rules.
Review of 3some
