Love Crime - DVD

Content: Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier) is astonished when her boss Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) claims one of her ideas, which has made quite an impression on the board, for her own and secures a lucrative promotion to New York. Slowly, Isabelle realizes that this isn't the way to make the career she's always dreamed of, but that she's just being shamelessly exploited by Christine. And so she decides to summon up all her courage and simply turn the tables. In fact, she manages to shine in front of the board herself at the next opportunity, which doesn't please the unscrupulous Christine at all. She now does everything she can to make her assistant's working day a living hell and to prevent her from becoming a real threat to her own career. In fact, she seems to be succeeding, because Isabelle can apparently no longer prevent small nervous breakdowns, even with the help of pills. But Christine has no idea that this is just a very clever move in a murderous game that has just begun...

Love Crime is the final directorial effort of César winner Alain Corneau, who died in 2010. With his thriller about the merciless competition between two women, the renowned filmmaker has presented a thrilling and, here and there, surprisingly cynical look at the elbow mentality prevalent in the business world. The film is carried by two strong leading actresses, with Kristin Scott Thomas in particular delivering a truly great performance as the ice-cold manager.

Also the stylish décor, the soundtrack and the atmospheric camerawork give the thriller its very special atmosphere. However, these numerous positive aspects are also contrasted by a sometimes unwieldy, as it seems too effortfully artificial staging and a clear drop in tension in the last third. The dialogues are a bit stilted, especially at the beginning, which makes it difficult for the audience to immerse themselves in the story. But unlike the 2012 German remake Passion by veteran director Brian De Palma, which turned out completely disappointing despite the almost completely identical story, Corneau's original has enough showmanship and entertainment value to still be convincing despite its weaknesses.

Because even if after the very big twist - which of course shall not be revealed here - the tension noticeably decreases, since the resolution is no longer a real surprise, the production still has some aces up its sleeve, which Corneau plays cleverly placed. Especially the not quite clear ending consoles over some of the dramaturgical lengths and upgrades the film quasi in the last second. Nevertheless, despite the good story and the convincing actors, the feeling remains that the film could have been much better and more intense if Corneau had refrained from some of the scenes that were staged too coolly and too artificially. Still, especially for lovers of classy French thrillers, there is a satisfied: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture is well realized with its atmospheric color scheme and its decent image sharpness, while the undercooled mood of the story could be captured very well. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix remains largely unspectacular, with the clearly mixed dialogue and score setting the tone first and foremost. For a quieter thriller, this is perfectly adequate. Good!

Extras: Unfortunately, the DVD has no extras to offer apart from the trailer.

Conclusion:Love Crime is a stylish thriller that can console over some dramaturgical hangs with an appealingly constructed story and two good leading actresses. Even though the French film is far superior to its failed remake Passion by Brian De Palma, the suspense here also drops sharply in the last third after a strong opening. Only the performance of Ludivine Sagnier can leave a lasting impression. If you like French thrillers of the quieter kind, you will be well entertained by this vicious game of cat and mouse between Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier despite some weaknesses. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp