Double Lover

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Draco S Feb 17, 2019 Only since 1919 the literature on Doppelganger has become synonymous with disturbing effect and mental destabilization: since Freud published precisely "Das Unheimliche" ("The Uncanny"). In reality this effect occurs exclusively in subjects with unconscious conflicting desires, otherwise, if these conflicts are managed in full consciousness and awareness, the effect is not given. That's why the little twin sisters of "Shining" can reappear to me as much as they want and I will continue to perceive them as a deadlock in the narrative. An interminable filmography has been created on the subject, and my apathetic reaction has always remained the same. Ozon tries to mix the cards oscillating between the psychic and the biological: a sort of remake of "Dead Ringers" (1988) but from the perspective of "The Fly" (1986). And I insist on getting bored, with a softcore full of the nasty nudes of the androgyne Marine Vacht (while I'm heterosexual: "Well, nobody's perfect"). (Mauro Lanari) See more

Harry P Nov 14, 2018 Freudian, French, sexy, surprising.

Leia R Aug 4, 2018 If the 2 leads were not so goodlooking, no one would believe the story. Ozon has done better.

Rey W Aug 3, 2018 Not nearly as smart as it thinks it is From prolific French auteur Francois Ozon, L'amant double [Double Lover] is partly a study of sexual obsession, partly an oneiric mystery (think Neil Jordan's In Dreams), 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 Chloe (Marine Vacth), a woman with a fragile mental state, who falls passionately in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jeremie 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 Noe 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 both 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 La vie d'Adele - Chapitres 1 & 2 (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. See more

Anakin S Jun 28, 2018 Very bizarre thriller which starts as a psychological movie , than a romance movie than ends up as a suspense and horror movie...Several genres in one...Entertaining... See more

Draco R May 22, 2018 Mucho de Polanski y Hitchcock.

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Double Lover

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