AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

blanche-2 Sadly, this was to be Alain Corneau's last film, as he died a week after this premiered.Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott-Thomas star as Isabelle and Christine, who both work for a conglomerate with offices all over the world. Christine (Scott-Thomas) is Isabelle's boss and seems very fond of her. Isabelle does amazing work, which Christine takes credit for. Isabelle seems okay with that, even when her coworker, Daniel (Guillaume Marquet) points it out.Isabelle and Christine are both involved with the same co-worker, Philippe (Patrick Mille). Christine, being hard-boiled, has information on Philippe concerning a shortage in some of his accounts. At Daniel's urging, Isabelle gives a report to the American firm interested in working with them, and they are very impressed, particularly when she says that it's hers and she takes full responsibility for it. The firm had initially offered Christine a lucrative job in New York and she had purchased an apartment; now they tell her that it was premature to offer it to her and they will discuss it later.Christine confronts Isabelle and accuses her of trying to make her look bad, usurping her authority, etc., etc. Later she uses what she has on Philippe to have him make a date with Isabelle and then break it. When Isabelle calls Philippe, Christine answers and basically declares war on Isabelle. She then humiliates Isabelle at a party.It goes from there.The French for some reason do this kind of film very well, and Love Crime is no exception. The men are secondary to the two competitive women with their own agendas. The environment of the office is sterile and ultramodernKristin Scott-Thomas is excellent as the cold Christine, a smile barely covering a truly nasty personality. When she asks how Isabelle's hair would look down before a meeting, Isabelle shows her - and Christine says, keep it up. That's because with her hair down, you can see what a dazzling young beauty Isabelle is, and Christine has to keep her in her place.Sagnier, with her wide-eyed, innocent face, is perfect as a sweet woman who realizes she's in a jungle and needs to fight to survive.Very good if predictable film once you see where it's going.

robert-temple-1 This is the last film directed by the late Alain Corneau, who is most famous for his magnificent film TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE (ALL THE MORNINGS OF THE WORLD) of 1991, which introduced the magic of the viola da gamba to a wider audience than it had ever before known in modern times. (It has a deeper, more resonant, and more mellow sound than the cello, and is my favourite string instrument. Bach's 'cello' works were really written for the viola da gamba. Everyone should hear Paolo Pandolfo's recording of Bach's 'cello suites' on the proper instrument.) In this last offering of his oeuvre, Corneau explores mortal combat between female business executives, those daring ones who have penetrated the glass ceiling and are now living and struggling inside it. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Christine, a ruthless egotist who will do anything to get what she wants. She is cruel, heartless, narcissistic, and more vicious than a cobra. Working in a position below Christine is Isabelle, played by Ludivine Sagnier, whose evolution during the course of the film from a sweet, trusting creature of traditional femininity into a fighter and a killer is an amazing screen transformation. When Isabelle is publicly humiliated by Christine, she snaps. One of them has to go. The claims that this is a film noir are true. Noir is not dead, and the rare true modern versions of it are often little masterpieces, as this film is. The director does not stray off piste, but keeps us focused on the essentials with relentless determination. We never learn why Isabelle was sweet to begin with, and we never learn why Christine is so heartless. Where they came from, what their early experiences were, how they became what they are, are subjects which are entirely ignored. In this film it is action, action, action. But instead of 'action' meaning the ridiculous car crashes and explosions of so many so-called 'action films', here we have real human action. With women as the characters, 'action' does not have to constitute external phenomena as is the case with men. For women, 'action' is the deadly silent conflict between personalities, and how they outwit each other. This is a true 'psychological thriller', whereas many claims of that kind are made by films which are not all that psychological. Strategy and tactics are not exclusively male concerns expressed externally through wars. They are just as important to women, expressed internally as quiet, deadly, psychological combat. Watch and learn!

writers_reign For the first couple of reels this is little more than Mike Nichol's 'Working Girl' with a French accent then Corneau subtly changes gear and ups the ante. To be honest I would have wished Corneau a better swansong than this. The film he made immediately prior to this - a genuine remake of Melville's Le Deuxieme Soufflé - was flawed and one longed for him to get back to the great days personified by Police Python 357. I've always had an aversion to Ludo Sagnier just as she long had an aversion to working with her clothes on (ironically, this time around she even coyly pulls a sheet around her to get out of bed) the truth of the matter is she's just that that much of an actress naked or fully clothed. No matter, Kristin Scott Thomas is well up to the task of carrying Sagnier - and most everyone else too, if anybody asks you. It's pleasant enough though the twists are not so much turns of the screw as rotations of a thumb-tack. Good for one viewing.

3xHCCH "Love Crime" is a story set in a firm with a tense conflict between two of its top female executives. Unscrupulous boss Christine (Kristen Scott-Thomas) steals credit for a big project by her idealistic assistant Isabelle (Ludivine Sangnier). Christine never would have imagined the lengths "naive" Isabelle would go to in order to turn the tables on her ruthless boss.As European films go, the pace is very slow. It was so slow that you can already see the predictable ending within the first half hour of the film. It was interesting to see how Isabelle plotted and executed her revenge, but it just took to long to tell the story. The extremely dull acting style of Ludivine Sangnier as Isabelle is so sleepy! She practically had one wide-eyed face during the whole film.I sought this film out because it will have an American remake entitled "Passion" by no less than master of suspense Brian de Palma, starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. I look forward to that to see how de Palma could improve the lackluster story-telling of "Love Crime."