Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Nigel P Alice is inconsistently perverse. She doesn't mind seducing and killing, and can even fall asleep next to the body of the victim, murdered Said, whilst waiting for her partner Luc to provide her with a getaway car. She's not bothered about robbing a shop in broad daylight – but when Luc runs over a rabbit in the road, she's devastated.This is a French film about two impetuous youngsters who, whilst burying the deceased Said in a forest, get lost and take refuge in a cottage, where a hermit called Karim takes a fancy to Luc and has an intense dislike for Alice. At first, it is assumed Karim is feeding Luc because he wants to eat him. He says he prefers his women 'dry', hence Alice is kept in the cellar, starving with the rats. But it soon becomes apparent the recluse has more intimate designs on the boy.It is an obvious declaration to make, but there is always a feeling of the (excellent) actors knowing far more than the viewer. Alice's jealousy of Karim and Luc's relationship mirrors Luc's similar feelings when watching Said and Alice earlier on – but who is Luc jealous of? Whatever the answer, the intimacy between the two men awakens Luc's sexual desire (at last) towards a grateful Alice, which is granted following their escape.Finally, the heavy-handed police capture Luc and kill Alice, presumably for Said's death (Alice wrote her murderous exploits in a diary, left with Karim) – and then Karim himself is arrested, with Luc proclaiming the man's innocence whilst being driven away in a van.The meaning behind this curious tale is left to the viewer. There is a certain adult fairy-tale quality to it. Certainly the forest where they end up has a mythical flavour, with hedgehogs and foxes scampering around as the youngster consummate their relationship. 'Criminal Lovers' is odd and unfathomable, unyielding and tremendously well-acted.

VagabondJ Honestly, I cannot say I enjoy this film too much. Although for years Ozon has impressed me with his penetrative observation and depiction of human psychology,which comes into blossom in many of his great works such as Sitcom and Swimming Pool.This film somehow reminds me of Hard Candy,which you cannot put any judgment upon as the moral code is totally invalid there.In this film,we have a beautiful girl Alice -half sweet and half vicious; an introverted and simple boy Luc.The couple plan a murder and escape to a wood where they unexpectedly encounter an odd man (whom,we soon find out,is a gay) And the story takes a turn at this point. In this man's seedy and dark house,awful things take place -while Alice is locked in the basement,Luc is treated as a sex doll of the old man. Later they even notice the body of Sid,the guy murdered by them in the basement. Eventually,like most clichéd thrillers,they escape and attract the police,paying their penalty.While I didn't find the main plot much original,I did feel that the sub-plot quite interesting.Firstly,it doesn't expose Luc's homosexual tendency clearly,which leaves the audiences to figure out whether Luc kills Sid out of jealousy.In fact,several details gives away this message,including the most important one: Luc cannot have a 'hard-on'when he's with Alice.Secondly,it is quite doubtful that whether Alice truly loves Luc.The dream sequence in the basement shows that Alice has fantasies about Sid yet is essentially disappointed over her weak boyfriend.Therefore,the reason why she wants to kill Sid is perhaps a sort of perversity -get high from visceral stimulation.Ultimately,the relationship between the two is a rather perverse one.As for the morality of the film,I'd say it deconstructs any stable moral system and points no way out;what's more,audiences are put in a strange position where they cannot draw a clear line between the right and the wrong.Alice,both sweet and vicious,can be pitiful in the basement and wicked in rest of the time;the old man is a gay and a cannibalist,yet in the end he lets the couple go;the police,so-called imposer of justice,shoot Alice mercilessly and beat the old man...perhaps the only character that is slightly 'positive'is Luc,yet he is a murder and a potential gay.These explain why I call the film amoral.It is so cynical that it negates all the characters.The audiences are left there drinking down the poison of criminality but unable to find any antidote.That being said,I cannot figure out the intention of Ozon -a social critique or just another encouragement to voyeurism? Or both? Because if anyone walks out of the cinema saying 'I'm now a better person',I doubt it.But if one says the film is for those who have naive views about the world,much appreciated -it's an eye opener.

graham clarke Ozon has cooked up an intriguing exercise. Drawing from eclectic sources ranging from Grimm's fairy tales, through Walt Disney to Bonnie and Clyde, (just to name a few), it becomes a curious amalgam.The problem is, as interesting as it may well be, Ozon lacks the artistry to utilize all the elements towards an overall vision. He seems much more interested in the bits rather than the whole. This over indulgence with the ideas themselves weakens the effect of the film as a whole.There's much room for interpretation (as with all fairy tales), but owing to the general lack of cohesiveness of this work, one cannot take this all too seriously, since ultimately this is not a movie worthy of serious consideration, despite it's ambitious pretensions. Jeremie Renier has the most interesting and difficult part to play, being both sexually and morally conflicted. It's a well controlled and powerful performance."Criminal Lovers" has the makings of a fascinating movie but Ozon lacks the skill in weaving the elements together. It's the craft that separates the good from the great film makers.

meitschi A wonderful modern Hänsel and Gretel version by Francois Ozon, one of today's most interesting French filmmakers. Natacha Regnier (La vie rêvée des anges) is most impressive as the scheming and unscrupulous, yet at the same time strangely innocent and childlike schoolgirl Alice who brings her impotent boyfriend Luc (not-so impressive, though ok Jérémie Renier) to killing their handsome Arab schoolmate Said she is lusting for. As for her motivations, the Rimbaud quote ("Un crime!...") in one of the flashback scenes seems to tell the most about it. Maybe she also hates Said because he is sexually aggressive and at the same time very desirable to her - so he doesn't give her that complete control she has with Luc who is none-menacing to her in any way whatsoever.As for Luc, whose internal development we follow the closest in the story, I don't know exactly why he is able to perform sexually in the end (in a scene that seemed to me a kind of parody to 70s softcore porn movies) when first he couldn't. It is true, Alice was menacing and even false to him (in the beginning, she tells the blindfolded Luc that she has taken off her bra when in fact she hasn't, then she photographs him half naked and tells him playfully she would send the pictures to his parents) - but then, the Man of the Woods (Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic - it makes sense that this strange character is played by a foreigner) seems also to be dangerous, doesn't he? Or is it that the Man (contrary to Alice) doesn't expect anything of him, only to stay calm and let go - that's why this in neither way attractive person is the first Luc is able to enjoy sex with?As for Luc and Said, someone here has mentioned that Luc may desire Said for himself. Though this never gets clear, but there is a tell-tale scene when Luc goes to Said's boxing class and watches him for an important period of time, while we hear strange, hymnical music on the background score. This may indicate that Luc is indeed attracted to his sexy schoolmate, though he also 'knows' that Said and his friends did terrible things to Alice (things the girl made up in order to convince Luc to take part in the killing).I also found the motif of the rabbits very interesting: rabbits here are exchangeable for people, as the same things happen to human beings as to these animals. A rabbit gets killed and so does a human; a rabbit gets caught in a trap and so does a human; a rabbit is eaten...All in all a very interesting Ozon movie. And as always in his films, there is more behind it than one may notice at first sight...