Criminal Lovers

Having attracted a lot of attention with his first feature Sitcom, Francois Ozon follows up with a work of immense maturity.

Alice (Natacha Regnier) convinces her boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to kill their classmate Saïd (Salim Kechiouche), who trapped her, and then had four friends rape her while he looked on. After the murder, the pair rob a jeweller's and head for the woods to bury the body. This having been done, they try to return to Luc's car, but their tracks into the wood have been covered over...

I was first drawn to see this film because of its fascinating plot. Often, a promising plot becomes a poorly realised film. However, with Criminal Lovers, it is quite the reverse. The wonderful story merely acts as the frame for the film, which is dashed with clever little touches and subtle details. Ozon makes masterful use of macabre imagery and symbolism. The film is modern moral fairytale, a grown-up Baba Yaga, with shades of Adam and Eve. It is intense and entirely real, a brilliant, complex study of sex, death and guilt.

The power of the film is heightened by a fractured time structure, as well as being beautifully shot and lit by Pierre Stoeber. The acting from the two young leads is honest and convincing, as they descend into a hell of their own making. Ozon has created a nightmarish, disturbing, incredible film, a complete vision. I can't wait for the next one.