Review of Love Crime (2010) by Thomas W — 03 Jan 2012

Love Crime is a tense, French thriller starring Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Nowhere Boy) as a ruthless corporate executive and Ludivine Sagnier (The Devil's Double, Peter Pan, 8 Femmes) as her put-upon, taken-advantage-of, misused-and-abused underling.

While the film starts out as the two pals and chums, it doesn't take long for Sagnier to realize Thomas is passing her ideas off as her own and profiting nicely. Adding to that the fact that Thomas' Christine isn't nice (at all -- cold-hearted, cruel and conniving), Sagnier's Isabelle quickly and decidely turns the tables on her .

.. and the story plays out diabolically as the pair one-up the other woman with anything at their disposal (initially while trying to play within the bounds of civility -- but there are some low-blows).

I questioned how Isabelle was as affected as she was early on; but perhaps there is more backstory than the audience had been made aware of ... that is the film's flaw -- why this far-flung assault "all of a sudden"? Love Crime is also one of those films that is a good and decent watch with little (important) wrong with it; but there are better things to see .

.. this isn't one that will make others tell their friends they "HAVE TO SEE". I watched it ... and I am moving on ... and that's that. It isn't a waste of one's time but there are more importhant and worthy watches that merit a viewing before this adequate thriller.

That isn't insulting; but it is not wondrous praise either.