Matt's impressions of Antarctica strain for metaphoric weight. Close to the South Pole, he observes, "claustrophobia and agoraphobia are in the same place, like two people in a bed." The fact that Lisa doesn't get her own commentary gives Matt the advantage and lends the movie the slight flavor of a locker-room tale told at a woman's expense.
But 9 Songs is lovely to watch. Especially when it forsakes the concert hall and visits the English seaside, the film acquires the high romantic gloss of A Man and a Woman. At such moments, Matt and Lisa begin to suggest prototypical, somewhat idealized modern lovers, two pretty people inviting a soft-core fantasy of romance at twilight.
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