Written by Linda
January 03, 2009
Do you ever blindly pay for a movie, then later smack yourself angrily in the forehead and exclaim, "I should have known better!!!"? I think humans are always a bit slow when it comes to learning from their mistakes. I now question why I paid full price to see the latest film by French bad-boy François Ozon, when my previous Ozonian experience, See the Sea (on my birthday, no less), was like being slowly tortured for an hour.
Ozon is being hailed as leading a New French Cinema of young, cutting-edge directors. He definitely has a modern, distinctive, cool style, but is really not for all tastes. If you like blood-splattering murder, and watching women masturbate against trees (yes, scenes in both of his movies that I've seen thus far), well, you may like his work.
Alice (Natacha Régnier) and Luc (Jérémie Rénier) are young lovers who kill one of their high school classmates, handsome Saïd, for revenge (or is it just for fun?). They bury Saïd's body in the woods, then end up getting lost trying to find the road where they left their car. Stumbling upon a cabin in the woods, they greedily steal the resident's food.... Uh-oh... Who's that at the door? Big bad Man o' the Woods (Miki Manojlovic), who is not too pleased to find trespassers in his home. He throws the kids in the cellar, and soon it is clear to the viewers that Criminal Lovers is actually a really twisted modern take on the already twisted fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel".
It starts to become clear that Alice indeed should get the prize for Worst Girlfriend In The World. It doesn't help that Luc is a bit of a wuss, despite having killed Saïd for love. The film starts to flash back and forth between the events leading up to the murder, and the kids' present predicament of being held captive by the man they often refer to as "the ogre".
There is a lot of seduction, homoeroticism, violence, and manipulation of every party involved. Let's just say Criminal Lovers is extremely squirm-inducing. Despite the overall ickiness, I have to admit that director Ozon has an extremely interesting style. Natacha Régnier is particularly good as the scheming Alice, a chick you can't help but be simultaneously appalled and mesmerized by.
I'd have to hesitantly agree with the critics: François Ozon is a talent to watch, despite the fact that sitting through his movies is someone akin to being subjected to Chinese water-torture. Don't say I didn't warn you!
