THE CRIME IS MINE
My love of French cinema and particularly my love of director Francois Ozon's work should be well known by any who read this blog by now, so to see the inclusion of one of his films on these lists should come as no surprise. As I always seem to say in my “guilty pleasure” film of each year, the reason why a film is usually my guilty pleasure is not because it is a bad film that I love (although that can happen), but rather it is because it is a good film, that is incredibly silly or fun that I love, that the cinematic snob in me sticks its nose up for liking. For those of you who are familiar with Francois Ozon's films, you would be aware that he has two styles that he regularly alternates between, which are his serious “real life” or “real world” dramas (such as “Under the Sand”) or his more fun, silly, wacky, glossy “movie” movies (like “8 Women”). He is adept at both styles (he sometimes even combines the two styles into one movie, like his well known film “Swimming Pool”), however his latest film “The Crime is Mine” is as silly and as goofy as it gets. The funny thing about this though is, when I wrote about this film in my most anticipated film list of 2023, I remarked how I didn't know what type of film it ultimately was, word out of France was it was a comedy, but looking at the plot description, I could only see real world drama. Make no mistake, I was totally wrong, as this is comedy through and through, and at times it is a very silly one too!
Back then, the imdb described “The Crime is Mine” like so: “Madeleine Verdier, a penniless actress is accused of the murder of a famous producer. With the help of her best friend, she is acquitted of the crime due to her acting in self defence at the time. Then begins a life of glory and success, until the truth threatens to come to light”. This is such a fun, light-hearted film that I had a great time with. Ozon has created a movie that is very big and theatrical in its design, right down to the film starting with theatre curtains opening. The film revolves around a woman lying about committing a murder due to the money and success that will come her way from the notoriety of such a crime, due to the fact that (in her story) she was protecting herself from a predatory producer (with a nod to the recent “Me Too” sensation that swept through Hollywood). As such, Madeleine's life is essentially one big performance piece, so Ozon's operatic style he has imbued on “The Crime is Mine” is perfect for the material.
One thing I love about Ozon is that he is very loyal towards his actors and often works with them more than once. What he has done with his cast in “The Crime is Mine” is cast regular actors from his films but usually against type or in roles you wouldn't immediately think of them playing. Frabrice Luchini, Andre Dussollier, Felix Lefebvre all show up playing silly, off kilter roles, but it is Isabelle Huppert who surprises the most here, playing the mysterious and seriously over-the-top (ageing) actress Odette Chaumette. I almost fell off my chair when I saw Huppert enter the film for the first time, with her giant hair and preposterous dress sense! She is absolutely ridiculous and hilarious in this film, and such a good sport. I mean this is a very seasoned and serious French actress, known for her intensity in dark dramas by Michael Haneke, so to see her like this, so hilarious and batshit crazy as she is in “The Crime is Mine”, I loved her even more than I did before. She totally steals every scene she is in! The lead actresses, Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder (who play Madeleine and her lawyer friend Pauline respectively), I was unfamiliar with, but I thought they were both excellent, particularly as a pairing, as they had great comedic timing together.
As I have mentioned already, “The Crime is Mine” has a very glossy look to it all, and the film has been wonderfully lensed by Ozon's (current) regular cinematographer Manuel Dacosse. With the story set in the mid-1930's, Dacosse gets a wonderful chance to regularly show off the period details of the film's intricate production design. I was also a big fan of the murder reconstruction scenes, as they have been presented in a black and white style similar to a silent film. These scenes stand out and look great.
I find that comedies from other countries do not always translate well into English, and I am sure the opposite would be true too. Thankfully, I'm happy to say that I found no such barriers with the comedy found in “The Crime is Mine”; it is all so broad and silly, that anyone can enjoy. There is also some funny “word play” in the film, which almost never translates if you do not understand the language spoken, but works extremely well here. However this brings me to the unsavoury point that sadly, “The Crime is Mine” has been released here in Australia in a censored version, simply for a word-play joke involving the “C” word. Sure, it is a rude word, but also quite funny in this context, and the decision to censor this dialogue totally ruins the moment. I have no idea why it was thought a good idea to censor this moment for Australian audiences, as whilst it brought the rating down from an MA15+ to a simple M (meaning teenagers can now see the film), I doubt many teenagers under the age of 15 who would be clamouring to see “The Crime is Mine” in the first place.
Anyway, outside of that little annoyance, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed Francois Ozon's latest film; it is as silly and as fun as anything which is why it was my “guilty pleasure of 2023”.
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