5 x 2? Surely that equals 10. Which means that Francois Ozon’s new film is merely a remake of the Blake Edwards misogyny fest or Abbas Kiarostami’s driving round Tehran hating men film. On balance it is more of the latter, the male character generally coming off worse than the female. However this five part, reverse chronology story of a marriage allows us enough leeway to also dislike the female lead too, leaving its hopeful how they got togethe rending with a very sour taste.
It is one of those films where you get to talk about a terrific rape scene, which is a phrase that one should never really get to use (nevertheless it is one of the most powerful scenes of its type I have ever seen). It is a nicely controlled, small film, centering completely on the couple. Problem is with its naturalism you get to nit pick when odd artistic choices are made. For example the end (which is also the beginning of the story):
Lead male turns up on beach for a sunbath after leaving his girlfriend. On beach is his future wife who he works with. They chat, and decide to have a swim together. Cut to the pair walking into the sea, as the sun sets. It is a beautiful image but contradicts the fact that they were out sunbathing. Who starts sunbathing, or goes swimming at 7:30. This really should not be a problem, but is. I would say it is probably me, but nearly everyone I know who has seen the film says the same thing. That said, I liked it better than either 10.