Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

itamarscomix 5x2 was my second Francois Ozon film, and as much as I enjoyed the English speaking 'Swimming Pool', I was pleasantly surprised to find a very different film in 5x2. The two share some themes of sexuality, passion, temptation and insincerity, but while Swimming Pool is a dark psychological piece, 5x2 is realistic - so realistic, in fact, that it might hit far to close to home for many viewers.The format of a story told backwards has been done many times before - Irreversible, Memento, and much earlier than that Harold Pinter's 'Betrayal' are all notable examples. The effect is quite different in 5x2. Rather than create mysteries and then gradually revealing the answers, each scene in 5x2 sheds new light on previous ones, while the shadow of the earlier scenes is always on the latter (chronologically earlier) ones, creating an effect that would make the film almost too painful to watch a second time. The story is extremely realistic and relatable, and there are no shocking revelations throughout; the film's strength is in its subtle simplicity, which makes it seem unimpressive while you're watching it but stay on your mind for a long time after. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Stéphane Freiss create real, relatable, likable but very flawed characters that bring the story to life, a story about love, sex and marriage that is sincere and real in a way that American films hardly ever comes close to.

FilmCriticLalitRao A French film cannot be called a "French Film" unless it does not contain all essential elements of French culture.These elements include love,sex,marriage,divorce etc.Five times two is a complete French film as it has included all of these indispensable elements in its narrative structure.This film has to be appreciated by all those who feel that French cinema has a significant air of intellectualism. By making a poetic film about 5 memorable moments of a happy couple's life,talented French cinéaste François Ozon has given us a glimpse of how emotional matters are handled by French people.Five times two can also be termed as a modern European/French film whose success rests on its actors.A mention must be made of two leading actors Stéphane Freiss and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi who make valiant attempts in the film to be true to each other.They exhibit ferocity in all of their actions whether it concerns their bitterness or sexuality.A film like this one is made with great intuition.It is for serious viewers to appreciate the efforts of the filmmaker.A good viewer will not be disappointed when he/she watches this film.

The_Void I'm a big fan of French director François Ozon, and every film he releases automatically becomes a must see for me. 5x2 is the story of a relationship told backwards in five stages, from the divorce proceedings to the initial meeting between a couple. Given the way that this story plays out, it's clear that 5x2 isn't exactly a romantic film; as we always know that the relationship is leading into oblivion. The main talking point of this movie is the fact that the story plays out backwards. This type of plot has been used with great success in films like Memento, but despite being seen before; Ozon makes good use of his plotting, and it provides a refreshing take on the common romantic film. There isn't really a plot to speak of, and the focus is kept on the central relationship between the husband and wife. This ensures that Ozon is allowed to develop his characters without being bogged down by plot details, and it ultimately benefits the film as it's potency all rests with the characters of Marion and Giles, both of which are played to perfection by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Stéphane Freiss.A film like this asks a lot of the performers, and as he's done several times before; Ozon ensures that both are up to the task, and he manages to pull great performances out of both the lead stars. The pair goes through a range of emotions, from happiness to hope and down to despair as the relationship falls apart. These days, it's more common for couples to split up; and this ensures that 5x2 is almost like Casablanca for the modern age. It's a very cynical film, but Ozon is not wrong in his depiction of a doomed relationship. The film is made more complicated by the inclusion of a child between the couple, but as each of the five sections of the film is relatively short in length, not everything is able to be explored and this is the film's main flaw. 5x2 is very French in its style and execution, and it's obvious that the director loves his home country. François Ozon is obviously gay (looking at the rest of his filmography), and even though this film is about a heterosexual relationship, the way that a gay couple is incorporated into the proceedings is very ham-fisted, and doesn't really fit. Still, this is a good film about the destruction of a relationship and overall, a success for the talented director.

gradyharp François Ozon (Swimming Pool, Under the Sand, 8 Women, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, etc) is a French director with a style of telling stories that is entirely his own. He seems to revel in challenging the audience to participate intellectually and emotionally in the common stories through which we daily walk. He doesn't strive for 'the big moment' or startling revelations: he is content to place a tale before us to encourage us to re-think our own existence, our parallel lives with those of his characters.'Cinq fois deux' (5X2) is a study of a couple who meet, fall in love, marry, have a child, and divorce. But the story is told in reverse: we begin during a meeting with the lawyers who present to Marion (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) a successful business woman, and to Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) and equally successful businessman the papers outlining their divorce settlement. All seems calm, yet after the signing the couple appears in a hotel room for one last sexual encounter that speaks volumes about their finished relationship. From that scene we move into the life they shared as a married couple with one child, a family that seems perfect, yet during a dinner party with Gilles' gay brother Christophe (Antoine Chappey) and his lover Mathieu (Marc Ruchmann) we begin to see parallels of relationship fallacies. We step back further to the wedding of Marion and Gilles where Marion's parents likewise illustrate marriages with both the sour and semi-sweet sides and the cards are on the table. And on their wedding night Gilles falls asleep on their marital bed and the frustrated Marion falls into the arms of an American stranger (Jason Tavassoli). A step further back to the courting days reveals more dissident threads, and finally the couple's original meeting at a seaside resort where Gilles is retreating with his then girlfriend Valérie (Géraldine Pailhas) suggests patterns of behavior that, knowing the ending because it was the beginning of the film, bring the audience into the realm of understanding.The cast is excellent, the lovemaking scenes are seductive and well filmed, and the transitions for the retrograde story are smooth and intriguing. The film allows us to examine three sets of relationships in detail and in doing so gives us insight as to just why trust is so important to success. Recommended. Grady Harp