The Criminal Lovers
The
Criminal Lovers is a pyscho-sexual fairy tale loosely based on
the Brother Grimm's "Hansel and Gretel." Teenaged Alice (played by
Natacha Regnier, Dream Life of Angels) tells the smitten Luc (Jeremie
Renier, La Promesse) that she has been raped by a handsome classmate,
and convinces him to commit murder to prove his love for her. After stabbing
the boy to death, and the burying his body in the woods, Alice and Luc find
themselves hopelessly lost. They break into an abandoned house, only to discover
that it is not abandoned at all. Soon, they find themselves at the mercy of
a lone woodsman, who keeps them prisoner in his rat-infested cellar.
Stephen Garrett's review in IndieWIRE calls the film a "brutally chilling experience." Young and naive Luc is the sexual pawn of both his girlfriend and the ogre-like woodsman. To be certain, this is not comfortable watching. The New York Times calls the film a terribly cold movie, "sterling-silver-plated and cool to the touch."
Ozon, however, was prepared to disturb viewers with his subject matter. He is not trying to make palatable films. He told IndieWIRE: "Many filmmakers know what good taste is, and stay within the bounds of good taste and good rules. But I think you have to push those envelopes."
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