7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.
Starring: Marine Vacth, Jérémie Renier, Jacqueline Bisset, Myriam Boyer, Dominique ReymondForeign | 100% |
Drama | 47% |
Erotic | 30% |
Romance | 18% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
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.
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 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.
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