L’amant Double – Film Review

Director: François Ozon
Writers: François Ozon (scenario), Joyce Carol Oates (freely adapted from the novel “Lives of the Twins”)
Stars: Marine Vacth, Jérémie Renier, Jacqueline Bisset

This is a new film from director François Ozon, who will be known to many for films such as Swimming Pool and 8 Women. This new film is slightly darker than those, with a similar feel to Hitchcock or Polanski, with a touch of Rosemary’s Baby in the air.

It is the tale of a young woman, Chloé (Marine Vacth), who has mysterious stomach pains. A series of doctors tell her that there is nothing physically wrong with her, so it must be psychological. She goes to a psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier). After a number of meetings, Paul tells her that he cannot continue to treat her as he has started to have feelings for her. They end their relationship as doctor and patient and start a new one as lovers. After a few months they move in together, but that is when Chloé starts to realise that Paul is hiding some secrets about his past.

This is a slow moving thriller that draws you into its web. There is a nice edge of paranoia to proceedings and you’re never quite sure how much of what you see is real and what is in Chloé’s head. It is a claustrophobic world and an intense look at her life. As with a lot of these films, the final scenes dictate whether it’s a classic or just a well made thriller, and unfortunately it doesn’t quite hit the mark. It’s one of those films that is sure to have an American remake that will be truly terrible. See this one first so you can give out about the other when it arrives!