Thursday, October 6, 2011

Criminal Lovers (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)
Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)


Genre: Drama • Thriller
Director: François Ozon
Starring: Natacha Régnier, Jérémie Renier, Miki Manojlovic
Language: French
Duration: 96 min.
Rating: 7.1  

Summary:
Alice is a bored, spoiled high schooler with a gorgeous body and a sociopathic mind.  She persuades one of her suitors, the naive and trusting Luc, to murder another suitor, the handsome, rakish Said.

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)


Criminal Lovers is the second feature film from French director François Ozon.  It screened in competition at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival.

With his second full length film, Ozon switches gears from dark comedy to psychological thriller.  This one featuring a pair of solid performances from Natacha Régnier as Alice a cold hearted young seductress who convinces her innocent fool of a boyfriend Luc played by Jérémie Renier, to kill another boy for her.

As can be expected, their plan soon goes awry.  After heading to the woods to dispose of the body, they become lost and hungry.  Unable to find their way back to the road, they happen upon a cabin in the woods where they break in to steal some food.  This is where the film takes a Hansel and Gretel like turn, as the woodsman returns and imprisons them down in his rat infested cellar, with sinister plans for Luc. 

It is a very well told adult fairy tale that features some graphic scenes of violence and sex, rabbit lovers beware, but overall is less shocking than his previous film Sitcom or his similar in tone short Sea the Sea.  Still it is another interesting effort from the versatile Ozon, who always manages to tread new ground with each successive film.

Bonjour Tristesse

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

Criminal Lovers • Les Amants criminels (1999)

5 comments:

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

This one is also getting added to the Watch List.

TimBowen said...

Been covering a lot of French movies lately. That's cool. I saw Martyrs lately, and loved it. I guess it's also part of the "new french extremity" scene...I'll have to check this one out too.

Steven Flores said...

I enjoyed this film.  I love the sense of humor of it as well as the violence which was quite extreme but in a stylish manner.  Plus, I was so into Natacha Regnier when I first saw this.  I have the film along with a bunch of old Ozon films on a VHS tape.  Unfortunately, I no longer have a VCR.

d_4 said...

Hey, psychological thrillers are my thing! I'll try this one for sure. Also, "a bored, spoiled high schooler with a gorgeous body and a sociopathic mind" not that hard to come by.

The Angry Lurker said...

I definitely like the sound of this director.

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