L’Amant Double

An obvious low point for François Ozon, L’Amant Double follows Marine Vacth’s Chloé as she discovers that her lover (Jérémie Renier’s Paul) may not be exactly who he says he is. It’s a reasonable premise that’s employed to consistently (and increasingly) unwatchable effect by Ozon, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, delivers an excessively deliberate drama that strikes all the wrong notes virtually from the get-go – with the growing emphasis on elements that may or may not be stemming entirely from Chloé’s mind ensuring that L’Amant Double grows less and less interesting (and more and more interminable) as it slowly unfolds. The almost total lack of compelling attributes ensures that the viewer’s efforts at connecting to something (anything) fall hopelessly flat, and it’s clear, too, that Ozon’s penchant for “shocking” images and sequences smacks of desperation and only exacerbates the pervasively, infuriatingly uninvolving atmosphere. There does, perhaps inevitably, reach a point at which L’Amant Double adopts an irredeemably (and aggressively) irrelevant feel that cements its place as an entirely ineffectual and downright disastrous misfire, with the movie casting serious doubt on Ozon’s abilities as a filmmaker and forcing one to view his past endeavors in a whole new light.

1/2* out of ****