Perfect Love

Rating:
Summary: Not-So-Perfect Love
Review: "Perfect Love" begins with the re-enactment of a violent crime. It then moves back in time to the evening, several months before, when 37-year-old single mother Frédérique (Isabelle Renauld in an accomplished performance) and 28-year-old man-about-town Christophe (Francois Renaud) first got together. For a while, the couple is able to make their unlikely union work, but then it all starts to unravel. There is no one incident, rather a series of petty jealousies and cruel comments. By the end, one of the two has murdered the other. As with her controversial 1999 feature "Romance," the title of author/director Catherine Breillat's 1996 predecessor isn't meant to be taken literally. If "Perfect Love" is slightly less shocking and sexually explicit than 2001's acclaimed "Fat Girl," it's just as disturbing and thought provoking and seems to suggest that an obsession with "perfect love" can only end in failure--if not death.

Rating:
Summary: A Director's Quiet but Passionate Scream
Review: Perfect Love makes no attempt at keeping secrets. In just its opening minutes, the audience is given fragments of a murder investigation, the murderer re-enacting the crime, and a daughter's interview answers. These short introductory fragments give the audience the we-know-why-and-how-this-all-ends-so-badly information which, in turn, creates the framework for the story that follows i.e. "37 years old and twice divorced, Frédérique meets 28-year-old Christophe at a wedding. What starts as a happy relationship quickly turns tumultuous ..." (DVD cover notes). Sound simple and straightforward? Well, the viewing experience is not! If you can appreciate the subtlety in this movie of laughter as despair's final voice, then, you can appreciate the depth of analysis used to present the characters in this tale's distressing dénouement.
The director's analytical approach creates the questions and answers that maintain and intensify the suspense; also, the director has crafted enough complex overlap and parallelism between characters to ensure an attentive viewing of this slow-paced, uncomfortable, claustrophobic, and un-natural "love story". In true French fashion, there is plenty of material for philosophical debate after viewing this movie. For example, psychologically transferred matricide (two-fold!), homosexual relationships finding strength from female abuse, desire as life denial, child abuse and the negative effects on children when parent(s) are absent either physically or emotionally, etc. ... Enough! The movie Perfect Love may become a cult classic at a later date; for now, its intelligence and artistry merit recognition and respect despite the angst its insightful vision engenders.

Rating:
Summary: "Can't you see I'm drowning?"
Review: You can always count on French director, Catherine Breillat to create startling, provocative films that examine male/female relationships. One of her favourite themes is the debasement of women in heterosexual relationships, and this theme is explored in "Perfect Love", a French film with English subtitles. "Perfect Love" is the story of Frederique (Isabelle Renauld), a beautiful, sophisticated 38-year-old doctor and her much younger lover, Christophe (Francois Renaud). Casual acquaintances for some years, Frederique and Christophe meet again at a wedding. The electricity is immediate and the pair quickly become lovers. Frederique is a single parent, and she's been married twice before. Christophe is a successful businessman who lives with his mother.

On one level, their relationship seems quite understandable. Frederique is desirable, and emotionally mature. Christophe is passionate ... at first. As always there is the question of age--after all, Frederique has a grown daughter who seems almost more suited to Christophe. But there are much darker undertones to this relationship, and this quickly becomes apparent as the relationship starts to unravel.

"Perfect Love" is the story of a sick relationship--and it's difficult to understand exactly why Frederique stays with petulant, nasty toy-boy Christophe ("Don't blame me. It's biology"). There are not enough indications in either her past or present to explain why she tolerates Christophe's nonsense. There are holes somewhere in Frederique's psyche, and like other Breillat heroines, Frederique undergoes a process of debasement to keep her man. Christophe's character is explored in more depth. There are hints of past trouble in his conversation with his neurotic mother, and she seems to be the exact opposite of Frederique. And then, there's Christophe's bizarre relationship with his equally unpleasant friend. Christophe is shown outside of his relationship with Frederique and this allows the audience a chance to examine his character in more depth. Unfortunately, we don't see Frederique functioning in other relationships, and an analysis of her character suffers as a result. Breillat's forte is exploring how women cope with less-than-perfect relationships, and I always find her controversial films challenging and thought-provoking. She remains one of my all-time favourite female directors--although I prefer "36 Fillette" and "Romance" (Breillat's best film) to "Perfect Love". The film includes many erotic scenes, so this is NOT one for the kiddies--displacedhuman