Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Nigel P Alice is inconsistently perverse. She doesn't mind seducing and killing, and can even fall asleep next to the body of the victim, murdered Said, whilst waiting for her partner Luc to provide her with a getaway car. She's not bothered about robbing a shop in broad daylight – but when Luc runs over a rabbit in the road, she's devastated.This is a French film about two impetuous youngsters who, whilst burying the deceased Said in a forest, get lost and take refuge in a cottage, where a hermit called Karim takes a fancy to Luc and has an intense dislike for Alice. At first, it is assumed Karim is feeding Luc because he wants to eat him. He says he prefers his women 'dry', hence Alice is kept in the cellar, starving with the rats. But it soon becomes apparent the recluse has more intimate designs on the boy.It is an obvious declaration to make, but there is always a feeling of the (excellent) actors knowing far more than the viewer. Alice's jealousy of Karim and Luc's relationship mirrors Luc's similar feelings when watching Said and Alice earlier on – but who is Luc jealous of? Whatever the answer, the intimacy between the two men awakens Luc's sexual desire (at last) towards a grateful Alice, which is granted following their escape.Finally, the heavy-handed police capture Luc and kill Alice, presumably for Said's death (Alice wrote her murderous exploits in a diary, left with Karim) – and then Karim himself is arrested, with Luc proclaiming the man's innocence whilst being driven away in a van.The meaning behind this curious tale is left to the viewer. There is a certain adult fairy-tale quality to it. Certainly the forest where they end up has a mythical flavour, with hedgehogs and foxes scampering around as the youngster consummate their relationship. 'Criminal Lovers' is odd and unfathomable, unyielding and tremendously well-acted.

preppy-3 Alice and Luc are in love but Luc is unable to fully consummate their relationship. One day Alice claims she was gang-raped by a bunch of boys led on by one of Luc's schoolmates. Her and Luc plan to kill the boy and dump the body...but things take a disastrous turn.OK it doesn't SOUND like "Hansel and Gretel" but that does kick in during the second half of the film. The film is disturbing--it contains some extreme violence, cannibalism and in your face sex scenes. I spent most of the film being really sickened but I gave this some space and...slowly...I THINK I understand what it's saying.EXTREME SPOILER!!! Alice and Luc are kidnapped by a woodsman who locks Alice in the basement and proceeds to sexually seduce Luc. Also it's made clear that Alice lied about being assaulted--they kill someone for no reason at all. Also it's shown that Luc likes having sex with the guy. At the end Alice is punished (killed) for her sins and Luc is led away pleading for the police not to harm the woodsman. This film seems to be about a young man becoming aware of his sexual orientation. Also it shows the hetero relationship in a very negative light while the gay one is shown matter of factly. Is it saying gay is better than straight? As I gay man I find this quite fascinating. END EXTREME SPOILERThis is not for everyone--the extreme violence and sex is going to disturb most viewers--but I found it fascinating. I can truthfully only give it a 7--I can't say I enjoyed the film but it did make me think.

dbdumonteil When I was a child ,"Hansel und Gretel" used to scare me to death.Even if they finally succeed at escaping from the clutches of the witch,some fears never fade away.The fear of the unknown forest where any person can be an enemy.The fear of unknown people you meet in the dark corners of the streets .The fear of being kidnapped and taken away far from your family.When I saw "les amants criminels " for the first time ,I had the same sensation as when I read the fairytale ;rarely,I felt so ill-at-ease ,in need of fresh air :Ozon's sinister tale stirred my emotions ,my subconscious,some of my childhood fears that never went away.There are a lot of hints at childhood here:outside the Grimm tale,the heroine's name is Alice (on the other side of the mirror),and the scene near the cascade ,in its quietness, where the two lovers are surrounded by animals ,recalls some Disney movie.And mainly ,mainly ,Ozon ,among only a few contemporary directors, has completely understood Hitchcock's great lesson:expect the unexpected .After their crime,the two lovers start out ,as Janet Leigh did in 1960,and I dare you to guess what will happen then!Ozon is the most gifted contemporary French director.

meitschi A wonderful modern Hänsel and Gretel version by Francois Ozon, one of today's most interesting French filmmakers. Natacha Regnier (La vie rêvée des anges) is most impressive as the scheming and unscrupulous, yet at the same time strangely innocent and childlike schoolgirl Alice who brings her impotent boyfriend Luc (not-so impressive, though ok Jérémie Renier) to killing their handsome Arab schoolmate Said she is lusting for. As for her motivations, the Rimbaud quote ("Un crime!...") in one of the flashback scenes seems to tell the most about it. Maybe she also hates Said because he is sexually aggressive and at the same time very desirable to her - so he doesn't give her that complete control she has with Luc who is none-menacing to her in any way whatsoever.As for Luc, whose internal development we follow the closest in the story, I don't know exactly why he is able to perform sexually in the end (in a scene that seemed to me a kind of parody to 70s softcore porn movies) when first he couldn't. It is true, Alice was menacing and even false to him (in the beginning, she tells the blindfolded Luc that she has taken off her bra when in fact she hasn't, then she photographs him half naked and tells him playfully she would send the pictures to his parents) - but then, the Man of the Woods (Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic - it makes sense that this strange character is played by a foreigner) seems also to be dangerous, doesn't he? Or is it that the Man (contrary to Alice) doesn't expect anything of him, only to stay calm and let go - that's why this in neither way attractive person is the first Luc is able to enjoy sex with?As for Luc and Said, someone here has mentioned that Luc may desire Said for himself. Though this never gets clear, but there is a tell-tale scene when Luc goes to Said's boxing class and watches him for an important period of time, while we hear strange, hymnical music on the background score. This may indicate that Luc is indeed attracted to his sexy schoolmate, though he also 'knows' that Said and his friends did terrible things to Alice (things the girl made up in order to convince Luc to take part in the killing).I also found the motif of the rabbits very interesting: rabbits here are exchangeable for people, as the same things happen to human beings as to these animals. A rabbit gets killed and so does a human; a rabbit gets caught in a trap and so does a human; a rabbit is eaten...All in all a very interesting Ozon movie. And as always in his films, there is more behind it than one may notice at first sight...