The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 28, 2024

The kind of awkwardly translated Americanized title The Crime is Mine somewhat masks the fact that this fun film from François Ozon is based on a French play called Mon crime, which rather interestingly became the source for two Hollywood films, 1937's True Confession and 1946's Cross My Heart. That said, the film that may spring most instantly to mind for some viewers when watching The Crime is Mine may well be Chicago, since both stories at least tangentially revolve around the notoriety of fame attending a female accused of murder. The hapless (?) "Roxie" in this film is struggling actress Madeleine Verdier (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), who shares a Paris flat with aspiring attorney Pauline Mauléon (Rebecca Marder). The two young women haven't had money to pay rent to their smarmy landlord Pistole (Franck de Lapersonne) for months, and things only go from bad to worse when Madeleine is sexually accosted at a supposed audition by an amorous producer, who is later found dead with a bullet in his brain. A daffy combo platter of inept police inspector Brun (Régis Laspalès) and magistrate Gustave Rabusset (Fabrice Luchini) quickly decide Madeleine must be the culprit, even if her motive isn't exactly clear. When Madeleine under the curious questioning of Rabusset figures out she needs the advice of a lawyer, Pauline enters the fray, and the two rather quickly discern that if Madeleine claims self defense, she'll probably get off and in the meantime will have free room and board at the local jail, and one way or the other the resulting press coverage certainly wouldn't be bad for an acting career. It may not exactly be "win, win", but it sets this crazy quilt story off on a screwball trajectory that Ozon is able to keep remarkably breezy throughout.

While there may not be a surplus of slamming doors, there's certainly a general sense of classic French farce running through the piece, as Pauline guides Madeleine through a trial where ostensible murder may take a back seat to nascent feminism and a woman's right to self protection, even if the entire gambit is a ruse. Unsurprisingly, Madeleine is let off, and she and Pauline read the press coverage as if they're looking at reviews for a triumphant performance by Madeleine (which is indeed more or less what's just happened). There are a number of buffoonish supporting characters wafting in and out of the story, including Madeleine's would be lover André (Édouard Sulpice), heir to a tire fortune (!) who has agreed to a marriage of convenience with a wealthy woman and who wants to make Madeleine a full time mistress. Isabelle Huppert also shows up midway through the story and pretty much steals the rest of the film as a completely eccentric older actress who may be one part Sarah Bernhardt and one part Ursula Mossbank from the musical version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Vis a vis André, though, virtually all of the men in The Crime is Mine are either dunderheaded or on the make, sometimes both simultaneously, something that aids and abets an overt feminist approach to the story. In that regard, it's probably salient to note that Mon crime (the original play) and its Hollywood iterations both posited a heterosexual (married) couple at the core of the story, while this effort suggests Pauline and Madeleine are more than merely friends.

The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Crime is Mine is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. (A couple of either "pretend flashback" or "movie with movie" moments are in Academy ratio and black and white.) The making of featurette included on this disc as a bonus feature sure looks like it has shots of Arri digital cameras, but Ozon is clearly heard berating his team at one point for "wasting film", and there is a nicely organic texturing to this presentation, either naturally or digitally achieved. Detail levels on the really rather luxe production design elements is typically excellent, especially on things like the beautiful costume fabrics. The palette is a bit on the peach colored side, but overall looks natural and is nicely suffused. There's just a slight dusting of noisiness on some passing shots, kind of interestingly not necessarily those with low light.

The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Crime is Mine features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options in the original French. There is some passing surround activity in either "outdoor" moments (the making of featurette shows a supposed rooftop moment with Madeleine and Andre is actually setbound) or crowd scenes like those featuring the courtroom antics. Philippe Romby's playful, jaunty score also nicely wafts through the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making of The Crime is Mine (HD; 41:37) is rather fascinating on a number of levels, including watching the stagehands deconstruct various sets to get different camera angles, but perhaps just as much to watch Ozon kind of barking out orders to and repeatedly "correcting" everyone from cinematographer Manuel Dacosse to star Nadia Tereszkiewicz. Subtitled in English.


• Interviews with François Ozon, Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder (HD; 16:28) are conducted separately and are subtitled in English.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 4:49)


• Bloopers (HD; 19:10)


• Costumes and Lighting Tests (HD; 6:23)


• Poster Concept Gallery (HD; 2:28)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:57)

The Crime Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Crime is Mine is consistently engaging and often rather droll, if maybe not quite as laugh out loud hilarious as it seems to think it is. Kind of interestingly, some wending twists and turns end up delivering a final reveal that is rather remarkably similar to the ending of Deathtrap. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.