Rating: 
Summary: Tool of His Captors
Review: "Criminal Lovers" shows a series of crimes committed in contemporary France with only minimal regard for the consequences. Alice (Natacha Regnier) is able to manipulate her weak-minded boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to avenge her honor against the claimed outrages of fellow student Said (Salim Kechiouche). Bloody revenge attained, they go on a small crime spree, later disposing of the body. Getting lost in the woods, they find the cabin of an unnamed trapper (Miki Manojlovic), who finds out more than Alice and Luc would like and who does not mind committing his own crimes on the others. Of course, Luc continues to think he loves Alice, but did she really prefer him to Selim, and what does Luc come to think of the trapper? The acting is pretty good. A number of strongly erotic segments help depict the motivations and move the film along. The film itself is fine, but the only extras are trailers for four other movies. There is no "making of", no commentary, no language choices, no info on the actors, and not even a hardcopy insert listing the eleven chapters.
Rating:
Summary: Tool of His Captors
Review: "Criminal Lovers" shows a series of crimes committed in contemporary France with only minimal regard for the consequences. Alice (Natacha Regnier) is able to manipulate her weak-minded boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to avenge her honor against the claimed outrages of fellow student Said (Salim Kechiouche). Bloody revenge attained, they go on a small crime spree, later disposing of the body. Getting lost in the woods, they find the cabin of an unnamed trapper (Miki Manojlovic), who finds out more than Alice and Luc would like and who does not mind committing his own crimes on the others. Of course, Luc continues to think he loves Alice, but did she really prefer him to Selim, and what does Luc come to think of the trapper? The acting is pretty good. A number of strongly erotic segments help depict the motivations and move the film along. The film itself is fine, but the only extras are trailers for four other movies. There is no "making of", no commentary, no language choices, no info on the actors, and not even a hardcopy insert listing the eleven chapters.
Rating:
Summary: A fairy tale for postmodern grownups
Review: After murdering the abusive bully Said, high school lovers Luc and Alice run away, get lost in the woods, and encounter "L'homme de foret," who can only be described as a fairytale ogre. He starves the girl and feeds (fattens up?) the boy, incidentally sleeps with him. This is advertised as a [alternative]-themed movie, but it is aggressively, unabashadly heterosexist. Luc's ... experience with the Man of the Forest is as skittish and underplayed as a episode of "Will and Grace," and it only serves to boost his confidence sufficiently for him to have loud, graphic [physical activity] with his girlfriend later. It is, however, postmodern, with disparate and contradictory pieces of the story not quite falling into place. Why did Alice really want Said murdered? Why was Luc willing to do it? Jeremie Renier (Luc) has played [alternative lifestyle] several times, but his only film available in the U.S. is the heterosexist ... "Brotherhood of the Wolf." The gorgeous Salim Kechioche (Salim), who doesn't have nearly enough locker-room and shower scenes, played straight in ... "Full Speed."
Rating:
Summary: A fairy tale for postmodern grownups
Review: After murdering the abusive bully Said, high school lovers Luc and Alice run away, get lost in the woods, and encounter "L'homme de foret," who can only be described as a fairytale ogre. He starves the girl and feeds (fattens up?) the boy, incidentally sleeps with him. This is advertised as a [alternative]-themed movie, but it is aggressively, unabashadly heterosexist. Luc's ... experience with the Man of the Forest is as skittish and underplayed as a episode of "Will and Grace," and it only serves to boost his confidence sufficiently for him to have loud, graphic [physical activity] with his girlfriend later. It is, however, postmodern, with disparate and contradictory pieces of the story not quite falling into place. Why did Alice really want Said murdered? Why was Luc willing to do it? Jeremie Renier (Luc) has played [alternative lifestyle] several times, but his only film available in the U.S. is the heterosexist ... "Brotherhood of the Wolf." The gorgeous Salim Kechioche (Salim), who doesn't have nearly enough locker-room and shower scenes, played straight in ... "Full Speed."
Rating: 
Summary: This movie rocks!
Review: Although I haven't seen the dvd yet, I plan on purchasing it and would highly reccomend it based on viewing the movie at a film festival last October. The movie was at times both highly sensual and very disturbing. This was one of my favorite movies from last year's ImageOut (gay/lesbian film festival in Rochester, NY).
Rating: 
Summary: fabulous!
Review: I am a filmmaker and this film rocks.
Rating:
Summary: fabulous!
Review: i just saw this DVD and it's great. natasha regnier is amazing. and if you liked CRIMINAL LOVERS you'll love francois ozon's other recent film WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS even better. it's based on a Fassbinder play and has a brilliant performance from Bernard Giraudeau as an aging lothario orchestrating couplings with a new young male lover, the lover's girlfriend, and a transvestite from his past. the dance scene alone is reason to see it and the DVD looks great with some neat extras...
Rating:
Summary: francois ozon's other films
Review: i just saw this DVD and it's great. natasha regnier is amazing. and if you liked CRIMINAL LOVERS you'll love francois ozon's other recent film WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS even better. it's based on a Fassbinder play and has a brilliant performance from Bernard Giraudeau as an aging lothario orchestrating couplings with a new young male lover, the lover's girlfriend, and a transvestite from his past. the dance scene alone is reason to see it and the DVD looks great with some neat extras...
Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet Meet Hansel & Gretel,
Review: I must defend this adorable, intelligent film from any pettiness that might keep people from it. A film school Prof. I know showed this to his students, and it was the hit of the year. The brilliant prologue set-up says more about sex and love than an entire Hollywood season. As the plot unfolds, the boy murders another boy at the girl's request; they are captured by a troll while hiding the body. The young man learns from his captor in the "Greek" style that there is more to love than pleasing a girlfriend; by the "end", Romeo/Hansel might be a "better man" -- or, he might just have fallen in love with his captor (another case of Patty Hearst capture rapture). The actors are gorgeous, ugly, and intimate. The psychology is Shakespearean in depth and ambiguity. Among the GREAT films, and a gorgeous DVD.
Rating:
Summary: A Gay postmodern retelling of "Hansel and Gretel"
Review: If you like the new Gay postmodern cinema, Francois Ozon's _Criminal Lovers_ isn't half bad. Three scenes in the film display Ozon's formidable talents as a director, but between those good moments there's only so much dead air. The pretty but uncharismatic young leads don't much help the situation, either. The story, which borrows heavily (and obviously) from "Hansel and Gretel," could work well as a short film, but is much too slight for feature length. Ozon tries to overcome this problem by creating an extensive backstory for the protagonists. Problem is, that backstory is pretty boring (plus we've seen it before, in Larry Clark's _Bully_ and a host of other troubled-teen movies). Meanwhile, the psychodrama at the center of the film is underdeveloped -- and even worse, it's not half as kinky or transgressive as it pretends to be. This said, the final fifteen minutes of _Criminal Lovers_ are excellent. If you're interested, I'd advise you to rent this one.
| 
