Trouble with Sex

Trouble with Sex

Year: 2005

Runtime: 88 mins

Language: English

Director: Fintan Connolly

A sensual romantic drama follows Dublin lawyer Michelle (Renée Weldon, IFTA Best Actress), whose upscale life hides dissatisfaction with her doctor boyfriend, and Conor (Aidan Gillen), a solitary bartender running his father's traditional pub. After Michelle orders a triple vodka one night, their attraction ignites into a tentative romance fraught with complications.

Trouble with Sex (2005) – Spoiler-Free Movie Summary & Plot Overview

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In the heart of contemporary Dublin, the story unfolds against the city’s quiet streets and intimate cafés, where modern ambition rubs shoulders with lingering tradition. The atmosphere is sensual and slightly melancholy, a place where the soft glow of pub lights and the crisp polish of law offices both speak of hidden desires. The film moves with a measured, almost lyrical pace, letting the city itself become a character that reflects the inner lives of those who inhabit it.

Michelle Kelly is a sharp, driven lawyer whose sleek professional world masks a lingering dissatisfaction. Her relationship with her doctor boyfriend feels increasingly perfunctory, and she balances her demanding career with the tender responsibility of caring for a mother whose memory is slipping away. These pressures leave her yearning for something beyond the polished veneer of her everyday existence.

Across the street, Conor Flynn tends the family‑owned pub, a dimly lit haven that has survived generations. He lives a solitary rhythm, caring for his aging father—still present in the bar’s worn wood and familiar chatter—while keeping his own romantic life at arm’s length. His quiet charm and the steady hum of the establishment offer a stark contrast to Michelle’s fast‑paced legal world, hinting at a different kind of fulfillment.

When a chance encounter brings these two disparate lives together, an undeniable spark flickers beneath the surface. Their tentative connection is set against the backdrop of Dublin’s layered social fabric, where professional ambition, personal loss, and the search for authentic intimacy intersect. The film invites viewers to linger in the moments of quiet discovery, suggesting that love may emerge in the most unexpected corners of a city that feels both intimate and indifferent.

Last Updated: October 14, 2025 at 03:54

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Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Bittersweet affair dramas like Trouble with Sex

Tentative romances that bloom amidst quiet dissatisfaction and complicated lives.If you liked the melancholic romance in Trouble with Sex, you'll appreciate these movies about tentative affairs and emotional infidelity. This collection features similar romantic dramas where characters seek connection outside unsatisfying relationships, leading to bittersweet and atmospheric stories of love and longing.

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Narrative Summary

These stories typically follow characters, often feeling trapped in comfortable but unfulfilling lives, who find a spark of passion with someone new. The narrative charts the tentative steps of the affair, the stolen moments of happiness, and the inevitable complications and emotional fallout, often leading to a conclusion that is more reflective than euphoric.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here based on their shared focus on the bittersweet nature of extramarital or complicating affairs. They possess a melancholic and reflective tone, a steady character-driven pace, and place a strong emphasis on the emotional complexity and quiet yearning that defines such relationships, rather than on dramatic scandal.

Movies about midlife introspection like Trouble with Sex

Character studies of personal dissatisfaction and the search for meaning in adulthood.For viewers who appreciated the themes of quiet dissatisfaction in Trouble with Sex, this list highlights similar films about midlife crises and personal reckoning. Discover character-driven dramas where protagonists grapple with aging, unfulfilled dreams, and the search for a more authentic life amidst professional and familial pressures.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern involves a protagonist confronting the gap between their expectations and reality. This internal conflict is often catalyzed by an external event or a new person, leading to a period of introspection and difficult choices. The journey is typically internal and psychological, exploring themes of regret, longing for change, and the complex weights of responsibility.

Why These Movies?

These films are linked by their central theme of midlife dissatisfaction and the quiet, introspective journey of self-discovery. They share a melancholic or reflective tone, a steady pacing that allows for character depth, and a medium emotional weight that deals seriously with adult problems without descending into melodrama.

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Trouble with Sex Summary

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Trouble with Sex Summary

Trouble with Sex Timeline

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Trouble with Sex Timeline

Characters, Settings & Themes in Trouble with Sex

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Trouble with Sex

More About Trouble with Sex

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