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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Love Crime (Film)

by Cara Nash | August 01, 2011 16:54 | Edited August 01, 2011 16:55

“…has all the ingredients to be a wickedly devious chiller, but it ends up feeling strangely flat.”

Somewhere inside Love Crime, there's a cracking psychological thriller just kicking to get out. Unfortunately, it's never let loose. Set against the cutthroat corporate world, this lusty tale of murder, which pits two terrific actresses against one another, has all the ingredients to be a wickedly devious chiller, but it ends up feeling strangely flat.

 

From the first scene, we realise that there's something a little disturbing about the relationship between the two female protagonists. While working on a brief, head honcho Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) seductively fawns over her younger assistant, Isabelle (Swimming Pool's Ludivine Sagnier) who, while shy, seems quite taken with the attention. This opener nails their characters: Christine is the manipulative corporate bitch who derives pleasure from playing mind games, and Isabelle is the smart but naive young underling so charmed that she lets her boss claim credit for her own ideas. But when the stakes rise in the workplace, backstabbing, betrayal and spilled blood ensue...

 

Love Crime is the final work of French director Alain Corneau, who passed away just after the film's release in his home country last year. Having previously tackled the workplace drama (Fear And Trembling) and the police thriller (The Cousin), Corneau fails to meld the two genres successfully here. That said, he does offer controlled, crisp direction, which juxtaposes effectively with the onscreen melodrama. For the most part, this is far-fetched stuff, but in a darkened theatre, one could easily forgive the increasingly implausible storyline - after all, suspension of disbelief is often the name of the game in this genre - if only there was something exciting to get caught up in. Unfortunately, there's not. Employing laborious black-and-white flashbacks in the formulaic second half, Love Crime begins to feel strained, and while there are a handful of thrills, they're too few and far between.