Criminal Lovers (AUS) ( Les Amants criminels )

Criminal Lovers (AUS) (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Les Amants criminels
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Malaga Spanish Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
90 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1999 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
François Ozon

Written By:
François Ozon

Actors:
Natacha Régnier ..... Alice
Jérémie Renier ..... Luc
Miki Manojlovic ..... L'homme de forêt
Salim Kechiouche ..... Saïd
Yasmine Belmadi ..... Karim
Bernard Maume ..... Le professeur
Jean-Louis Debard ..... Le gardien de nuit
Catherine Vierne ..... La vendeuse de bijoux
Marielle Coubaillon ..... L'hôtesse du supermarché
Olivier Papot ..... Le policier
Gil Demurger ..... Le GIGN (as Gil de Murger)
Agnès Accaria
Ranzi Adjeri
Brigitte Albuquerque
Martihino Albuquerque

Synopsis:

French bad boy director François Ozon, who caused a stir with his controversial first feature Sitcom (1998) and his shorts A Summer Dress (1997) and See the Sea (1997), creates a dark and brooding tale of transgression and sexuality for his second feature outing. Alice (Natacha Régnier) 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 (Jeremie Renier), to murder another suitor, the handsome, rakish Said (Salim Kechiouche). The criminal act itself, though exceedingly messy, proves to be the easy part, as disposing of the body becomes the much thornier problem. They throw the corpse in the truck of Luc's parents' car and drive to a creepy forested area in Provence. In their haste to bury the body, they lose their way. Without warm clothes or food, they wander deeper into the forest until they happen upon a seemingly deserted shack. At this point, the film's narrative suddenly mutates from its Badlands-like beginning into a bizarre, horrifying version of Hansel and Gretel. When the resident of the hut returns, he rousts them at gun point into the cellar dungeon, where to their horror they find Said's exhumed cadaver -- missing a leg. It soon becomes apparent that the hermit plans to cook and eat the couple, but not before making Luc his sex slave. Alice quickly realizes that the world does not bend to her whims. Influenced by both Luis Buñuel and Jean-Luc Godard, Ozon's wickedly baroque film is an assault on the listless bourgeoisie and an exploration of the pitch-black corners of the soul. This film was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival.

Anyone who's seen "The Blair Witch Project" knows that no good can come of young people venturing into the woods, particularly if, as in "Criminal Lovers," they're there to bury the body of a murdered classmate. Crafty scripter-helmer Francois Ozon, who's never met a sexual subtext he didn't like, sets out to graft fairy-tale conventions onto the sordid, fundamentally pointless crimes of passion that sell newspapers.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 07 May, 2010.