Movie Review: Love Crime
Something so unexpected happens halfway through Love Crime, the final film by the late French director Alain Corneau, that you’re left wondering how the story can keep its legs throughout until the end. Consequently, the first and second halves of Love Crime seem like two different movies, but Corneau holds the reins tightly enough to successfully merge love, suspense, crime, and mystery in this tale of a doomed female mentor-mentee relationship in a high-powered corporate workplace.
Christine (K
ristin Scott Thomas) is a power player, a wealthy and ruthless agribusiness executive who dominates the French branch of a presumably American multinational corporation. Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier), Christine’s savvy young assistant and protégée, aims to please her mentor and is dutifully climbing the corporate ladder with the hopes of one day becoming a “Christine” herself. During the opening scene in Christine’s luxurious residence, Isabelle is surprised and uncomfortable with Christine’s flirting as the two prep Christine’s upcoming business trip to Cairo. When Isabelle comments on how much she likes Christine’s expensive scarf, Christine gives it to her as an impromptu gift, but any hint of romance between the two women ends as Christine’s lover, Philippe, enters the room. As for the scarf, it becomes a key item to watch throughout the film.
To Isabelle’s surprise, Christine selects her to travel to Cairo to finalize a major business deal. Philippe makes the same trip, as his firm knows Egypt well. The deal goes smoothly in Cairo, and, not surprisingly, Philippe and Isabelle sleep together. Although Christine never says so, it feels as if she expected and even wanted the two to have the affair. Soon after returning to France, Isabelle becomes angry when Christine takes credit for an idea of hers that was instrumental in finalizing the Cairo deal. Christine has a history of doing such things, but it takes some convincing from Isabelle’s coworker Daniel that it’s time to beat Christine at her own game. Isabelle’s growing feelings for Philippe and her disappointment with how Christine treats him fuel her desire to distance herself from her icy boss.
Events escalate quickly from there. It turns out that Philippe has conducted at least one shady deal with Christine’s company. Christine, of course, cannot fathom the thought of a corporate scandal, so she issues Phillip an ultimatum, part of which involves ending his relationship with Isabelle, who by this point has fallen in love with him. Workplace jealousy, public humiliation, and extreme violence all follow, leading to a well-acted but somewhat predictable and entirely improbable second half.
In addition to Corneau’s strong directing, fine acting by Thomas and Sagnier counterbalance the improbabilities of the film’s plot. Thomas is terrifying as Christine, a woman who will stop at nothing to maintain her position of power. Christine is a walking definition of the so-called “boss from hell.” Sagnier plays Isabelle as a vulnerable, innocent young woman who in the end refuses to become Christine’s prey. You want to root for Isabelle, but it’s hard to do so knowing that the most important action she takes in the film is hardly justified.
Ludivine Sagnier (left) and Kristin Scott Thomas in Love Crime.
Photo by Pascal Chantier – © (c) Pascal Chantier – SBS.
Love Crime has no action sequences and contains little music, which is unusual for a film that essentially evolves into a crime mystery. A series of flashbacks during the third act feel forced, but the final payoff is worth the wait.
There’s some underlying fun in Love Crime, too. The first half of the film uses every cliché in the book when it comes to sex and power in the corporate world. Even better are the few but precious scenes featuring the company’s American executives, who use the kind of stereotypical gung-ho business language heard in boardrooms across the country. The clean and modern clutter-free sets, combined with the impersonal colors that dominate the film, convey just the right sense of iciness and calculation to mirror the story’s characters. Love Crime isn’t a perfect movie, but it is a good one. And don’t forget to keep an eye on that scarf.
