Ruthless executive Christine brings on young Isabelle as her assistant taking delight in toying with her innocence. But when Christine starts passing on her protege's ideas as her own, things take a dark turn.
Lucie presumes that her husband Paul - an older neurosurgeon - has an affair. Indeed, Paul behaves strange lately, but the truth behind it is dark and complicated.
Director:
Philippe Claudel
Stars:
Daniel Auteuil,
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Leïla Bekhti
A group of cinematic spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the ... See full summary »
Director:
Claude Miller
Stars:
Nicole Garcia,
Bernard Giraudeau,
Jean-Pierre Marielle
An act of revenge takes an unexpected turn in this psychological drama from French writer and director Lola Doillon. Anna (Kristin Scott Thomas) flees a house on the outskirts of Paris and ... See full summary »
Director:
Lola Doillon
Stars:
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Pio Marmaï,
Jean-Philippe Écoffey
Suzanne is a well married mother, but her bourgeois lifestyle gets her down and she decides to go back to work as a physiotherapist by building an office in their backyard. Then Suzanne falls in love with the man hired to build the office.
Director:
Catherine Corsini
Stars:
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Sergi López,
Yvan Attal
The rivalry between the manipulative boss of an advertising agency and her talented protégée escalates from stealing credit to public humiliation to murder.
In modern-day Paris, a journalist finds her life becoming entwined with a young girl whose family was torn apart during the notorious Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942.
Director:
Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Stars:
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Mélusine Mayance,
Niels Arestrup
A rookie policeman from provincial Le Havre volunteers for the high pressure Parisian homicide bureau and is assigned to a middle-aged woman detective.
Ruthless executive Christine brings on Isabelle as her assistant, and she takes delight in toying with the young woman's innocence. But when the protégé's ideas become tempting enough for Christine to pass on as her own, she underestimates Isabelle's ambition and cunning -- and the ground is set for all out war.Written by
Anonymous
Rare for a mysterious thriller set in the high stakes business realm, Love Crime (Crime d'Amour) is dominated by women with the men relegated to paltry supporting roles. Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is on the fast track to the elite tier of her international business firm as chief of their Paris office. She is confident, sexy, knows how to work the room, and has complete faith in her subordinate Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier). Not only is Christine a business mentor to Isabelle, she also assumes the role of life coach, close confidant, and in a few moments, possible temptress.
Isabelle is also on the fast track but is severely overshadowed by the extroverted Christine. She has original ideas which win the firm big clients but Christine will frequently claim those ideas as her own to help her case for promotion. Christine does not necessarily view this as the immoral thing to do. She is the boss and ideas flow to the top. Plus, any success merited to Christine will naturally help Isabelle's career; however, Isabelle must never forget who is truly in charge.
While attempting to prove herself outside of Christine's shadow, Isabelle sparks a feud between the two careerists with drastic consequences. So begins an intricate chess match of hints, allegations, innuendo, and dramatic backroom conversations. Christine attempts to squash her former protégé back into obscurity and Isabelle maneuvers to step into her own spotlight subverting her malicious boss.
If you have a weakness for 'who dunnits' or intricate true crime methodologies, then Love Crime is your guilty pleasure come true. However, if you have only passing interest in the above mentioned genre, then you can take or leave this film. The script is sharp, the acting is a pleasure to watch, and the intense, hushed French conversations will keep you immersed, but there is not much more to it.
Isabelle's relationship with Christine reminded me a bit of the earlier Ludivine Sagnier role in Swimming Pool, but instead of Charlotte Rampling, this time you get a much more assertive Kristin Scott Thomas. There are also direct reminders of The Business of Strangers with Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.
Sagnier redeems herself in this audience member's eye from her disastrous work in The Devil's Double. While that was a good film, her character and acting drastically impacted its plausibility. Plausibility is also a factor here in Love Crime. There are overreactions you would never see in reality but the intricate follow through in the malevolent details make up for a good portion of disbelief.
8 of 14 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Rare for a mysterious thriller set in the high stakes business realm, Love Crime (Crime d'Amour) is dominated by women with the men relegated to paltry supporting roles. Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is on the fast track to the elite tier of her international business firm as chief of their Paris office. She is confident, sexy, knows how to work the room, and has complete faith in her subordinate Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier). Not only is Christine a business mentor to Isabelle, she also assumes the role of life coach, close confidant, and in a few moments, possible temptress.
Isabelle is also on the fast track but is severely overshadowed by the extroverted Christine. She has original ideas which win the firm big clients but Christine will frequently claim those ideas as her own to help her case for promotion. Christine does not necessarily view this as the immoral thing to do. She is the boss and ideas flow to the top. Plus, any success merited to Christine will naturally help Isabelle's career; however, Isabelle must never forget who is truly in charge.
While attempting to prove herself outside of Christine's shadow, Isabelle sparks a feud between the two careerists with drastic consequences. So begins an intricate chess match of hints, allegations, innuendo, and dramatic backroom conversations. Christine attempts to squash her former protégé back into obscurity and Isabelle maneuvers to step into her own spotlight subverting her malicious boss.
If you have a weakness for 'who dunnits' or intricate true crime methodologies, then Love Crime is your guilty pleasure come true. However, if you have only passing interest in the above mentioned genre, then you can take or leave this film. The script is sharp, the acting is a pleasure to watch, and the intense, hushed French conversations will keep you immersed, but there is not much more to it.
Isabelle's relationship with Christine reminded me a bit of the earlier Ludivine Sagnier role in Swimming Pool, but instead of Charlotte Rampling, this time you get a much more assertive Kristin Scott Thomas. There are also direct reminders of The Business of Strangers with Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.
Sagnier redeems herself in this audience member's eye from her disastrous work in The Devil's Double. While that was a good film, her character and acting drastically impacted its plausibility. Plausibility is also a factor here in Love Crime. There are overreactions you would never see in reality but the intricate follow through in the malevolent details make up for a good portion of disbelief.