Love Crime [Crime D'Amour] - Movie Review
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
This French dramatic thriller is so gleefully trashy that it's rather entertaining, as long as you don't try to take it seriously. Sleek and seductive, it's a pungent tale that plays out like a particularly lurid corporate soap. It also gives smart actresses Sagnier and Scott Thomas plenty of juicy material to play with as two women who try to derail each others' lives.
In the Paris office of a multinational corporation, Christine (Scott Thomas) is a fiercely ambitious executive looking for opportunities to advance her career. But then so is her brainy assistant Isabelle (Sagnier). And when Christine passes one of Isabelle's clever ideas off as her own, Isabelle gets even by seducing Christine's boyfriend (Mille) and deploying her assistant (Marquet) on secret missions. From here the manipulative manoeuvring accelerates, as both women try to get the upper hand. And Isabelle seems to be playing a much longer game.
Director Corneau fully indulges in the story's sordid elements, letting both Sagnier and Scott Thomas play up their characters' nasty ambitions as they engage in a vicious tit for tat. Every word and gesture is designed to bring the other one down a notch. As the balance of power shifts back and forth, we are aware that there's a larger plot developing off-screen, so watching it emerge is a lot of fun, especially then there's so much twisted chemistry between these two actresses and the hapless men they use to carry out their evil scheming.
As things get nastier, each of them goes through a few emotional breakdowns, although we can never be sure that they're not playing for anyone who might be watching. So we don't really mind that the snaky plot doesn't quite hold water, or that there's not much to the film beyond the idea that mentors should beware their smarter students. No, this is just a skilfully made double-whammy noir B-movie. Yes, it's rubbish, but it's disguised as something enjoyably classy and slick.
Rich Cline
Facts and Figures
Year: 2010
Genre: Foreign
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 3.5 / 5
Cast & Crew
Director: Alain Corneau
Producer: Said Ben Said, Alexander Emmert
Screenwriter: Alain Corneau, Natalie Carter
Starring: Ludivine Sagnier as Isabelle, Kristin Scott Thomas as Christine, Patrick Mille as Philippe, Guillaume Marquet as Daniel, Marie Guillard as Claudine, Gérald Laroche as Gérard, Olivier Rabourdin as Le juge, Julien Rochefort as L'avocat
Also starring: Alain Corneau