User reviews

Ozon is one of the most interesting French directors nowadays but also one having a bumpy career. Either he makes a brilliant film or something definitely mediocre.

This film happens to belong to the last category as well as his 2 previous ones, since here he repeats the style and plot of David Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS.

I notice that he remains in a creative impasse. Here in Mexico the picture has been promoted by word-of-mouth regarding the sex scenes, but for me they are conventional and far from daring.

Push harder, Mr Ozon, because you need to offer better ideas as you previously did.

From prolific French auteur François Ozon, L'amant double is partly a study of sexual obsession, partly an oneiric mystery (think Neil Jordan's In Dreams (1999)), and partly a conventional thriller (more whoisit than whodunnit). "Freely adapted" from Joyce Carol Oates's 1987 novel Lives of the Twins (published under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith), and written by Ozon and Philippe Piazzo, the film tells the story of Chloé (Marine Vacth), a woman with a fragile mental state, who falls passionately in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier). Within a few months, she has moved in, however, as time goes by, she slowly starts to learn of a significant part of his identity which he has been concealing.

Imagine, if you will, Vertigo (1958) remade by someone like Gaspar Noé or Lars von Trier, and you'd be some way towards getting a handle on Ozon's latest; completely barmy (you know you're in strange territory when the second shot of a movie is, quite literally, an internal shot of a vagina). As one would expect from Ozon, the aesthetics are solid - the film is built upon an inventive visual style employing juxtaposition, pseudo-split screen, and copious amounts of shots with one person in the frame proper, and the person to whom they're talking only visible in reflection. The sound effects are also excellent and really jolt you out of your seat on a couple of occasions. Similarly, the acting is strong, with Vacth and Renier unrecognisable in their respective roles.

However, the melodramatic and self-congratulatory plot is an absolute mess. Many of Ozon's standard tropes are here; a dissection of the academic middle class/intelligentsia, an examination of the schism between appearance and reality, an attempt to elucidate the mind of a complex woman, a psychoanalytical bedrock, the mutability of identity etc. But it's all diffused through an utterly farcical narrative, which fails to get even the basics right. For example, sex is a central theme, but by the time we get to the fourth or fifth sex scene, it has completely lost its potency (compare, for example, the infinitely superior Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013), where sexuality is just as central, but which features only two sex scenes). The same goes for the increasingly ridiculous plot twists, once you get to three or four and you're still in the first half of the movie, you just stop caring. Ozon has always been hit and miss, for every Sitcom (1998) and Swimming Pool (2003), there's an Angel (2007) and a Ricky (2009), and L'amant double is, in the end, a rather pointless film that seems to think it's saying something exceptionally profound about desire and identity. It isn't.

Right from the opening shot you get a pretty strong steer on what this movie is about and it will certainly appeal to the average male - and some females. It is largely pretentious soft porn but the actors do their best and it's French so appeals to me anyway.

Not a lot of plot once you're landed with the initial twist but it's passable. No more than that.

Good movie in the general tradition of Shutter Island and Black Swan. The film never seems to decide if it wants to work out a story or build up suspense. It's neither a thriller or a drama. Yet I enjoyed watching it. Acting by the two main actors is excellent. There's quite some open eroticism in the French style but always matched to the story. Towards the end I was moved. Worth checking out.

"L'Amant Double (2017 release from France; US title Double Lover; 115 min.) brings the story of Chloe. As the movie opens, Chloe is discussing unexplained stomach aches with her doctor, who decided to refer Chloe to a psychologist, Paul Meyer. After a number of sessions, Chloe and Paul fall in love and she moves in with Paul. By coincidence, Chloe finds out that Paul has a twin brother, Louis, also a psychologist. Why didn't Paul tell Chloe about his twin brother? What becomes of Paul and Chloe? At this point we are 15 min,. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from well-regarded French director Francois Ozon, who previously brought us "Frantz", "In The House", "Potiche", just to name those (I absolutely loved "In the House"). Here he goes a very different direction, and brings a (semi-erotic) psychological thriller that even has some Hitchcockian elements to it: is everyone really who they appear to be? who is misleading whom? It all should make for a terrific movie. Alas, it isn't to be, and not by a long shot. Due to the plot-heavy nature of this film, I really don't want to say much more . But let me just say that by the end, it was utterly impossible to keep track as to who really was who, and some of the plot twists are nothing short of preposterous. Beware, there is quite a bit of nudity in the film, starting with a very weird opening shot. Belgian actor Jérémie Renier plays the dual roles of the twin brothers, and does the best he can with the material he's given. French actress Marine Vacth, on the other hand, looks utterly lost as Chloe. The legendary Jacqueline Bisset, as the mother, is unrecognizable (I didn't even realize it was her until the end credits rolled).

"L'Amant Double" premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival (how it made the festival's cut is absolutely beyond me). "Double Lover" recently opened on a single screen for all of Southwest Florida. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (about 15 people). I cannot imagine that this will play a long time in the theater. I typically love foreign movies, and knowing Ozon's reputation going in, I was really looking forward to this. While in good conscience I cannot recommend "Double Lover", I of course encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Or only half of what you might be getting ... which actually may ring true to those dissapointed in this. The movie really sucks you in and you have to think and figure things out. Answers may be there (or not), but you have to look closely and maybe even watch it more than once to really get what the director wanted you to see.

Having said that, this is really suspensful from start to finish. It keeps you guessing and whatever the answer is you can embrace that or be annoyed. It is very well made and if you don't mind nudity and adult situations, you won't be freaked out by that part of it. It's also important to understand the main character and her journey

Double Love (L'Amant Double)r: Twins, of course there are varying types. While this film owes a debt to Cronenberg's Blood Brothers, and the theme of a patient falling in love with her analyst isn't exactly original, Francois Ozon puts his own stamp on this tale. Chloe (Marine Vacth) an ex-model now working as an art gallery attendant seeks help from therapist Paul (Jéremie Renier) regarding her psychosomatic stomach pains. They swiftly become lovers but Paul keeps secrets, he has a twin who is also a shrink. Things start to get complicated after that in this psychological thriller which morphs into horror on occasions. A few interesting plot twists add to the intrigue in this film of smoke and mirrors. Writer/Director Francois Ozon delivers an enigmatic (if somewhat derivative) Erotic Noir Thriller. 7/10.

Only the french can open a movie with a vagina wide spread and not call it porn.

The french certainly have a different tolerance for nudity and sex as we all know but if it becomes pointless it just results in a cheap tool, as sex sells. I have to say though, that I didn't have the feeling at any time in the movie. All nudity scenes are there for a reason. While the style in which the film was shot in, is thrilling and you want to know what happens next, this has a small downside to it.

This movie has two possible endings, which you can see coming pretty early. So I was thinking either this will happen, or that. One of them then actually happened. So you have a 50/50 chance of being surprised. Normally I hate, when movies are to predictable, but in this case, it didn't actually hurt the film that much. The last scene though (without getting into spoilers) feels just ridiculous and it feels like, its simply there for pure shock value and nothing else to end the film with sort of a jump scare. Overall it's still an entertaining movie, nothing new, nothing to classy but you wont be bored for a minute and that also matters a lot.

The movie has an air of mystery from the very beginning. While this mysterious atmosphere is always going on, it never gets boring, on the contrary, it drags you into an exciting tension. Even the sex scenes in the movie were suspenseful.

The sequences shot with the mirror in the movie were quite impressive. The acting wasn';t bad, but I expected better. The neighbor in the movie could have been handled better. We can say that the neighborhood's story is not well designed.

Double Lover starts in the best way, as all pieces are introduced. Then, the cast, brings another flavor as its blends and secures what is being experienced, but towards the third act, G!!!, All tumbles down in such an incredible mess, that just leaves you wonder you just wasted two hours of your time.

A psycho-sexual thriller that you have to think about when it is over to understand what was really going on. Would rate it higher if the characters were really involving, but you never really feel anything about them. Emotionally kind of dead, but intellectually interesting. Was tempted to see it again for the plot but didn't want to spend more time with the people.

With François Ozon you're always in for something unusual and here it's no different: this is really a very strange but also fascinating movie. It's an erotic thriller, a bit in the vein of Brian de Palma or Paul Verhoeven, the story is slowly but very effectively built up through all kinds of innuendo's, suspicions, turns and twists, up until an unavoidable climax. It is cinematographically beautiful, chockfull with metaphors, mostly emphasizing the concept of mirroring and doubling. And the acting, especially of Marine Vacth, is superb.

On the down-side I have to say that the story was a bit too surreal for my taste (I kept thinking of David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" - talking of weird!) and the actions of main characters Chloé and bad brother Louis grew more and more difficult to understand, which made it a bit hard to sympathize with any of them, even with Chloé.

Anyway, very much recommended if you want to see something different, fascinating and titillatingly sensuous, as long as you don't mind a certain lack of realism and logic.

Certainly there are plenty of different opinions in relation to this film, and that is not wrong at all. Art itself is very subjective, and categorizing this film just by the negative reviews a sector of audience has gave it, does not change the fact this film is a great piece of work, denying this would be demeriting the vision (and apparently numerous working hours) the director and all of his crew invested. 'L'amant double' is truly a movie audience should not afford missing, after seeing it then you could properly get your own conclusions, but i guarantee you'll have 1 hour and 50 minutes of a mental, thrilling and an audiovisual experience you would not forget. Personally i consider it a unique psicological thriller with an outstanding photography. P.S. Do not watch this movie if you are not willing to appreciate an uncomfortable work of art.

This film is annoying and totally uninteresting from beginning to the end. Between the inaudible remarks of the main actress diaphanous insignificant and aesthetically disgusting (it makes a little think of a praying Mantis straying frigid lost), the scenario without tail nor head and a story that makes no sense, the title " perverse games of a tormented pseudo-bourgeoise"would be better suited to all this waste of time and money. Really, this film held a selection rank at the Cannes Film Festival? It is pathetic

Perhaps as subtle as my titling this review 'Seeing Double', Francois Ozon's (Swimming Pool, 5x2) latest would have a billion years bad luck if every mirror in the film was shattered. With some memorable visual constructions, including an unforgettable opening match cut, 'Double Lover' is a mixed bag of slightly over egged Hitchcockian menace, queasy body horror in the vein of David Cronenberg and a cold, clinical psychological element resembling Michael Haneke. Marine Vache plays who I thought could be her character from earlier pairing with the same director, Jeune et Jolie, until the narrative progressed. Described as 'frigid' at one point, Vache's Chloe more accurately represented the temperature of the film, icy with hot spots, both sexually and visually. Concluding with a final, literal shattering shot, the highs and lows of this film are so far apart that it only just crosses the line into recommendation territory, indeed my evil twin might have placed it just below that level.

..the movie does not happen without Vacth.. ..if you do a search for photos of her.. ..you will come across dozens and dozens of images.. ..looking as if she just stepped out from a scene in this film.. ..it is her trademark 'look'..

..without a doubt a French film through and through.. ..even should you find her alluring.. ..this production will test the patience of most moviegoers..