Spanish writer-director Mateo Gil (Realive) returns to our Festival with his most inspired and entertaining creation yet, an audaciously imaginative spin on the rom-com that pits a love-struck science savant against the mid-boggling cosmicomic dictates of love and physics.

Set in Barcelona, The Laws of Thermodynamics tracks the tumultuous romance between Manel and model-turned-actress Elena. Gliding seamlessly back and forth through space and time, the film takes us on a whirlwind tour of seduction and ecstasy, heartbreak and regeneration.

Featuring an (inter)stellar cast that includes Maria (and the Others) star Vito Sanz and Palm Trees in the Snow ’s Berta Vazquez, The Laws of Thermodynamics balances scenes of romantic bedazzlement with witty commentaries from science experts—though can anyone explain the gravitational pull of the object of one’s desire?