Emma & Marie

This is a French movie about an obsessive lesbian relationship. It resembles "Single White Female" in that has it has two young college students--an aspiring musician (Judith Davis) and a medical student (Isilde Lebesco)--sharing a flat in Lyon for financial reasons when one becomes dangerously obsessed with the other. The movie does make several brave choices, however, they don't quite work out and they perhaps serve to make the movie not quite as effective as it could be.

First off, the movie really opts for realism and doesn't really cross into the lurid thriller territory of "Single White Female" or a lot of Hollywood fare. This is an admirable in a way, but it also makes it somewhat less entertaining. Of course Claude Chabrol has made an entire career of these slow-burning French thriller/melodramas, but the director here doesn't quite have his talent. The movie also doesn't really go for the lesbian sex angle. The lesbian relationship actually remains largely unconsummated and curiously, for a FRENCH movie, this actually has significantly LESS sex and nudity than "Single White Female" (it's the only movie of hers I've seen where the voluptuous Isild Lebesco does NOT take her clothes off). The movie also chooses to make both of the leads rather unsympathetic--one character is a self-involved opportunist while the other is a stalker--but then this is true of "Single White Female" as well, and is not necessarily a serious problem.

Despite its flaws, however, I did watch this movie from beginning to end, and I can't say I'm sorry I did. Isild Lebesco is great in this. She's a very compelling actress (even with her clothes on!)and I think she could give a lot of Anglophone actresses a serious run for the money. Judith Davis is also quite good. This is no lesbian stalker classic. It's not as good as "Lost and Delirious" or "Single White Female" (although they're all very different movies), but it works better than some (like the recent "Jack and Diane"). It's not great, but I don't regret having watched it either.

This movie is a perfect example of why I tell those to first try and keep an open mind when viewing entertainment. I encourage you to watch it before reading this review and all others.

When we're judging anything it's often based on our personal desires, what we've read and our own expectations off of that. Expectations give way to disappointment. The reason why personal expectation often proves as the wrong tool to use for a critic is because rarely do we ask THE most important question... what was the director (and/or writer) trying to accomplish?

Now even without knowing what the director/writer was trying to accomplish, I still try and keep neutral in judgment with a personal preference for a good plot line.. at least.

Isilde Lebesco is one of my favorite actresses and directors. She often takes risks-and from what I've noticed-brings light to things hidden in the dark. Interesting character displays that you may not favor in a person, but resemble reality, true emotions, situations and people that are among us in our daily lives. It's what drove me to view more of her work and I happened to stumble across this interesting movie.

Now I haven't found much on the director's intentions for this movie (as much of the videos I found are in french with no english translation), but I'm guessing the intentions and meaning were along the lines of merely depicting a potentially real situation amongst two women. If that were the case, I personally could not be mad at how this movie turned out. Because if this were a real situation? Realistically, anything could've happened, the possible endings are countless and it had to end with one.

Also I've noticed that endings in quite a bit of European films are dramatic or bitter to most.

Personal opinions:

Did I like the ending? No. Was it realistic for the current situation? Yes.

I enjoyed the plot but wish there was more expansion on the characters and the scene's themselves as a lot of the scenes seem cut throat, like they want you to get the gist of what's happening only.

The two women undergo many emotions with each other. The events are slow growing which I usually appreciate, but not here when there is missing character development and you have all these scenes where you have to decipher what is happening based off of a drawn out, non-talking setting that lasts 2-5 minutes. You get the picture and it's nice to see the actresses reactions as if you're in the room, experiencing it with them. But for the plots sake? I wish there was more to show for the two women and their relationship.

Why did I not like the ending? Well what if you had a friend who complained how they hated their cat but wants the cat to live with them, while at the same time doesn't want the cat around.. wouldn't that aggravate you?

In conclusion, I've literally seen this movie 5 plus times and enjoy these eye opening, reality driven, lesbian movies and those type movies in general. This will forever remain a favorite of mine and I'm glad it exists. Passion, obsession, repulsion, lust and all.

Since the world was first disturbed by Fatal Attraction in 1987, the viewing public has been treated to many homages to this classic tale of obsessive love gone horribly wrong, and this film follows in what has now become something of a cinematic tradition.

It is not clear exactly which experiences she had herself, but for anyone looking for a quality lesbian storyline, this would be a poor choice, even though distributors Peccadillo have the title on their lesbian list. Nor is it the perfect choice if one is looking for a story of obsessive love - if sexual orientation is not important to you in a plot, look no further than the towering performance of Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher – that is how obsession and desire should be played.

Rather than offering a satisfactory lesbian storyline or indeed a gripping tale of obsession and its consequences, Highly Strung is more a story about the emotional immaturity of a number of people in their late teens or early twenties, and so it adds nothing new to this sub-genre. Disappointing. GR

Twenty-five minutes into this film, and I noticed something was missing. Character development!! We see Emma (played by Isild Le Besco) showing signs of possessiveness towards Marie (played by Judith Davis) with no real build-up. The director shows us that Emma seems obsessed without giving us any hint as to why. There's also the sexual aspect that Emma brings into the relationship. There was no clear motivation regarding her sexual preference.

The movie builds up an unhealthy tension during the first 25 minutes, but doesn't seem to be thrilling enough after that. It seemed as if the movie was trying to speed thru to get to the point of something interesting, yet it still felt slow and weak.

And the fact that Emma forces herself onto Marie?! Well, that's considered rape! And yet, nobody here seems bothered by that?!

Anyway, this film didn't have enough depth to keep me interested.