Doppio amore

Only the french can open a movie with a vagina wide spread and not call it porn.

The french certainly have a different tolerance for nudity and sex as we all know but if it becomes pointless it just results in a cheap tool, as sex sells. I have to say though, that I didn't have the feeling at any time in the movie. All nudity scenes are there for a reason. While the style in which the film was shot in, is thrilling and you want to know what happens next, this has a small downside to it.

This movie has two possible endings, which you can see coming pretty early. So I was thinking either this will happen, or that. One of them then actually happened. So you have a 50/50 chance of being surprised. Normally I hate, when movies are to predictable, but in this case, it didn't actually hurt the film that much. The last scene though (without getting into spoilers) feels just ridiculous and it feels like, its simply there for pure shock value and nothing else to end the film with sort of a jump scare. Overall it's still an entertaining movie, nothing new, nothing to classy but you wont be bored for a minute and that also matters a lot.

Ozon is one of the most interesting French directors nowadays but also one having a bumpy career. Either he makes a brilliant film or something definitely mediocre.

This film happens to belong to the last category as well as his 2 previous ones, since here he repeats the style and plot of David Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS.

I notice that he remains in a creative impasse. Here in Mexico the picture has been promoted by word-of-mouth regarding the sex scenes, but for me they are conventional and far from daring.

Push harder, Mr Ozon, because you need to offer better ideas as you previously did.

From prolific French auteur François Ozon, L'amant double is partly a study of sexual obsession, partly an oneiric mystery (think Neil Jordan's In Dreams (1999)), and partly a conventional thriller (more whoisit than whodunnit). "Freely adapted" from Joyce Carol Oates's 1987 novel Lives of the Twins (published under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith), and written by Ozon and Philippe Piazzo, the film tells the story of Chloé (Marine Vacth), a woman with a fragile mental state, who falls passionately in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier). Within a few months, she has moved in, however, as time goes by, she slowly starts to learn of a significant part of his identity which he has been concealing.

Imagine, if you will, La donna che visse due volte (1958) remade by someone like Gaspar Noé or Lars von Trier, and you'd be some way towards getting a handle on Ozon's latest; completely barmy (you know you're in strange territory when the second shot of a movie is, quite literally, an internal shot of a vagina). As one would expect from Ozon, the aesthetics are solid - the film is built upon an inventive visual style employing juxtaposition, pseudo-split screen, and copious amounts of shots with one person in the frame proper, and the person to whom they're talking only visible in reflection. The sound effects are also excellent and really jolt you out of your seat on a couple of occasions. Similarly, the acting is strong, with Vacth and Renier unrecognisable in their respective roles.

However, the melodramatic and self-congratulatory plot is an absolute mess. Many of Ozon's standard tropes are here; a dissection of the academic middle class/intelligentsia, an examination of the schism between appearance and reality, an attempt to elucidate the mind of a complex woman, a psychoanalytical bedrock, the mutability of identity etc. But it's all diffused through an utterly farcical narrative, which fails to get even the basics right. For example, sex is a central theme, but by the time we get to the fourth or fifth sex scene, it has completely lost its potency (compare, for example, the infinitely superior La vita di Adele (2013), where sexuality is just as central, but which features only two sex scenes). The same goes for the increasingly ridiculous plot twists, once you get to three or four and you're still in the first half of the movie, you just stop caring. Ozon has always been hit and miss, for every Sitcom (1998) and Swimming Pool (2003), there's an Angel - La vita, il romanzo (2007) and a Ricky - Una storia d'amore e libertà (2009), and L'amant double is, in the end, a rather pointless film that seems to think it's saying something exceptionally profound about desire and identity. It isn't.

Double Love (L'Amant Double)r: Twins, of course there are varying types. While this film owes a debt to Cronenberg's Blood Brothers, and the theme of a patient falling in love with her analyst isn't exactly original, Francois Ozon puts his own stamp on this tale. Chloe (Marine Vacth) an ex-model now working as an art gallery attendant seeks help from therapist Paul (Jéremie Renier) regarding her psychosomatic stomach pains. They swiftly become lovers but Paul keeps secrets, he has a twin who is also a shrink. Things start to get complicated after that in this psychological thriller which morphs into horror on occasions. A few interesting plot twists add to the intrigue in this film of smoke and mirrors. Writer/Director Francois Ozon delivers an enigmatic (if somewhat derivative) Erotic Noir Thriller. 7/10.

"L'Amant Double (2017 release from France; US title Double Lover; 115 min.) brings the story of Chloe. As the movie opens, Chloe is discussing unexplained stomach aches with her doctor, who decided to refer Chloe to a psychologist, Paul Meyer. After a number of sessions, Chloe and Paul fall in love and she moves in with Paul. By coincidence, Chloe finds out that Paul has a twin brother, Louis, also a psychologist. Why didn't Paul tell Chloe about his twin brother? What becomes of Paul and Chloe? At this point we are 15 min,. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from well-regarded French director Francois Ozon, who previously brought us "Frantz", "In The House", "Potiche", just to name those (I absolutely loved "In the House"). Here he goes a very different direction, and brings a (semi-erotic) psychological thriller that even has some Hitchcockian elements to it: is everyone really who they appear to be? who is misleading whom? It all should make for a terrific movie. Alas, it isn't to be, and not by a long shot. Due to the plot-heavy nature of this film, I really don't want to say much more . But let me just say that by the end, it was utterly impossible to keep track as to who really was who, and some of the plot twists are nothing short of preposterous. Beware, there is quite a bit of nudity in the film, starting with a very weird opening shot. Belgian actor Jérémie Renier plays the dual roles of the twin brothers, and does the best he can with the material he's given. French actress Marine Vacth, on the other hand, looks utterly lost as Chloe. The legendary Jacqueline Bisset, as the mother, is unrecognizable (I didn't even realize it was her until the end credits rolled).

"L'Amant Double" premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival (how it made the festival's cut is absolutely beyond me). "Double Lover" recently opened on a single screen for all of Southwest Florida. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (about 15 people). I cannot imagine that this will play a long time in the theater. I typically love foreign movies, and knowing Ozon's reputation going in, I was really looking forward to this. While in good conscience I cannot recommend "Double Lover", I of course encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.