Pierre Paul Renders

Belgian director Pierre-Paul Renders hopes his first feature, "Thomas in Love," an amusing cyber-romance about a 32-year-old shut-in who meets women over his "visiophone," makes a connection with increasingly wired American audiences. Told solely through the video-screen communication of the unseen, agoraphobic title character who hasn't left his apartment in eight years, the film satirizes everything from cyber-sex and matchmaking agencies to Internet shopping and online therapy.

Belgian director Pierre-Paul Renders hopes his first feature, "Thomas in Love," an amusing cyber-romance about a 32-year-old shut-in who meets women over his "visiophone," makes a connection with increasingly wired American audiences. Told solely through the video-screen communication of the unseen, agoraphobic title character who hasn't left his apartment in eight years, the film satirizes everything from cyber-sex and matchmaking agencies to Internet shopping and online therapy.

"Thomas In Love" is different with a difference. This unusual little film goes its own way not to be seen as edgy, trendy or on the cusp of fashion but to a specific dramatic purpose, to better tell its adventurous story. Even the way that narrative develops is apart from the norm. "Thomas in Love," which won a major critics award at the Venice Film Festival, starts gently, with amusing drollness, then gets more serious, even provocative, without sacrificing its light touch.

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