Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Double Lover Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 11, 2018

The French love of Alfred Hitchcock is both well known and well documented, with any number of iconic names associated with the French film industry having championed the celebrated director’s work. While François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol may be the two best remembered such champions, another François, namely François Ozon, is a dedicated acolyte of Hitchcock, as he mentions in the appealing interview included on this Blu-ray as a supplement. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ozon also mentions Brian De Palma as a formative influence, and of course many folks through the years have mentioned how Hitchcock’s work has itself informed De Palma’s own offerings, to the point that some have accused De Palma of outright ripping off Hitchcock. While Hitchcock’s influence on any number of French (and, obviously, other international) filmmakers is a given, another name associated with Ozon’s weirdly perverse Double Lover may in fact come as a genuine surprise: Joyce Carol Oates. As Ozon describes in the interview, he became interested in the fact that Oates, a “serious” short story and novel writer (resulting in several “showings”, if no wins — yet — in the yearly Pulitzer Prize sweepstakes), had put out a number of arguably less “high falutin’” offerings under a number of pseudonyms, including some mystery pieces that might qualify as only slightly weightier than pulp fiction. One of these mystery tales sparked Ozon’s own creativity, though perhaps understandably Ozon doesn’t mention that the source novel for Double Lover had in fact been previously adapted for the made for television outing Lies of the Twins, a 1991 opus starring Isabella Rossellini and Aidan Quinn. I frankly haven’t seen that now long ago effort, and so can’t speak to how similar it may be to Double Lover but Ozon himself mentions how one salient (and totally bizarre) plot element of his film is his own creation, at least more or less, since Ozon also states that Oates’ source work “hints” at this aspect. After the realistic if at times rather achingly lyrical Frantz, Double Lover would seem to be a rather abrupt change in both content and style for Ozon, but it’s notable that this film was marketed as having come from the filmmaker who gave the world Swimming Pool, another thriller that plays with interior worlds and different perspectives in at least somewhat the same way that Double Lover does.

Those who have seen Ingmar Bergman’s legendary 1966 film Persona, an entry which at least tangentially touches on some of the same aspects of “twinning” and psychological unraveling that Double Lover does, may have a reaction to another element of Ozon’s film that in its own way reflects a shocking moment in Bergman’s opus. Without getting too “descriptive”, Persona has an arresting opening montage that includes a brief (Bergman insisted it was only a fraction of a second) snippet of a male at least somewhat sexually aroused. It’s the sort of thing that just “wasn’t done” in a supposedly mainstream motion picture, even of the Art House variety, especially not back in 1966 (however freewheeling many think of the sixties as being). After a rather discomfiting credits sequence that sees a woman getting her hair cut almost violently, Ozon begins Double Lover with a quick dissolve that may leave viewers wondering (as I did), “Was that really what it seemed to be?”, and indeed “that” is what it seems to be — a close-up of female genitalia undergoing a gynecological exam. The fact that Ozon segues via dissolve from the sexual organ to an eye is one of the more audacious openings of a film in recent memory (or at least my recent memory).

Both the eye and the — well, you know — belong to Chloé (Marine Vacht), a young French woman who has had a lifetime of stomach problems which her latest physician is convinced are psychosomatic in origin. When a therapist is recommended, Chloé ends up in the care of kindly if laconic Paul (Jérémie Renier), the kind of studly psychiatrist that I imagine would have many women wondering about his “bedside manner”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Paul and Chloé end up in a relationship (a potentially troubling plot element that the film just kind of elides), and it seems for a while that Chloé has overcome whatever ailment in her mind was producing cramps in her stomach. However, when she spies who she thinks is Paul talking to another woman one day, she sets out on an investigation when Paul insists she did not see him. That leads her to another therapist, a decidedly more martinet figure named Louis (also played by Jérémie Renier), which is when the head games, both within the film and in a “meta” way, extracurricularly as well, begin.

To reveal too much more would perhaps give prescient readers a clue as to what exactly is going on, but suffice it to say it initially appears that Paul and Louis are brothers with a pretty disturbing past, one which involves a woman named Sandra and Sandra’s distraught mother, Mrs. Schenker (Jacqueline Bisset). To say that this is actually not what’s going on is not much of a spoiler, given the patent weirdnesses that have already accrued in the film (some presentational, some narrative), but when Double Lover gets to its “Moishe the Explainer” moment, caution is definitely thrown to the wind and Ozon indulges in a frankly gonzo denouement that seems ripped from a fever dream of someone like David Cronenberg. I’m not sure either the explanation or in fact anything that has gone before really makes “sense” when thought about too much, but what “saves” Double Lover is Ozon’s really fascinating use of imagery. This is a film filled with near hallucinatory elements (another clue), with Chloé seeming to lapse in and out of visions, including of herself as a twin.

I’ve mentioned in some previous reviews of Ozon material, notably films like In the House, that Ozon loves to play with perception, both that of his characters and (perhaps more saliently) his audience. That playful aspect is certainly a major feature of Double Lover, but my hunch is some audience members may feel like they’ve been toyed with a bit too much (at least for Ozon’s “own good”, so to speak). In that regard, the film may in fact recall one of Hitch’s more controversial (at the time of its original release) outings which in its own way dealt with a certain “twinning” element, Vertigo.

Double Lover Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Double Lover is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa as having digitally captured the imagery, but once again omits at what resolution a DI may have been finished (I suspect 2K and as always welcome authoritative sources sent to me by members). This is a really interesting film stylistically and I for one would have loved a commentary that may have revealed whether some of the effects were done in camera or composited digitally later. There are some "old school" moments like split screen, but more commonly Ozon will simply present "dreamlike" imagery that has Chloé sitting "next to herself" or "becoming" other characters, and similarly the inevitable merging of Paul and Louis is also played toward the psychedelic side at times. Detail levels are routinely high throughout the presentation, even in some dark scenes. The palette kind of wafts between cool blues, neutral browns and beiges and occasional brief bursts into warmer territory, and as such there's not a ton of visual "pop" here, but detail and fine detail are routinely excellent, and as is usually the case with Cohen Blu-ray releases, no compression anomalies intrude.

Double Lover Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Compared to the often hallucinogenic video element, Double Lover's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix seems relatively restrained a lot of the time, which is not to say there isn't noticeable surround activity in scenes scattered throughout the film, especially when the characters are out and about. That said, several longer key sequences play out between only two characters, and in those moments, immersion tends to be limited to occasional ambient environmental noises. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly, and some rather striking sound effects (literally "striking" in a key moment at the end of the film) also reverberate with surprising force.

Double Lover Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Conversations from the Quad (1080p; 17:34) features Ozon and Vacht interviewed by Richard Pena, Professor of Film Studies at Columbia University. Some of Vacht's answers may crack some of you up (they did me), at least if you expect actors to speak volumes about their preparation and character insights. Undeniably funny is Ozon's lament that French films aren't sexy enough, which is why there's so much carnal activity in this film. Pena asks the questions in English and then Ozon and Vacht respond (mostly) in French with English subtitles.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:54)

Double Lover Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Double Lover is another decidedly odd entry in the ever expanding filmography of Ozon, but I have to say I was kind of deliriously hypnotized by it all, though the denouement offered is almost like a bad, forgotten episode of The Twilight Zone. Stylistically this is one of Ozon's most audacious achievements, and fans of the director will probably love the visual games he plays, if not some of the "head games" that ultimately become apparent toward the end of the film. Technical merits are strong, and with caveats noted (including the fact that the film has some pretty kinky sex scenes, for those who are bothered by such things), Double Lover comes Recommended.