Synopsis
After a perverted impulse drives them to kill, Alice and her boyfriend, Luc, drag the body into the woods, only to find themselves hopelessly lost – much like the fairy-tale plight of Hansel and Gretel. Starving and with no hope of being found, they chance upon a dilapidated cottage where a hulking man takes them prisoner and proceeds to feed Luc's sexual appetite.
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Cast
- Natacha RégnierAlice
- Jérémie RenierLuc
- Miki ManojlovićMan of the Forest
- Salim KéchioucheSaïd
- Yasmine BelmadiKarim
- Bernard MaumeThe Professor
- Jean-Louis DebardThe Night Guard
- Catherine VierneThe Jewel Saleswoman
- Marielle CoubaillonThe Market's Hostess
- Olivier PapotThe Police Officer
Recommendations
- 88
San Francisco Examiner
In Criminal Lovers, the "Bonnie and Clyde" model of killing-as-erotica gets a shrewd, funny, decidedly French workout. - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Both the leads are scarily good, and Ozon imbues his troubling tale with jarring blasts of light and the sun-dappled beauty of the natural world. - 70
Film.com
Has its own sense of logic and integrity that demand a kind of begrudged respect. - 70
Village Voice
May be as gimmicky as Ozon's other features, but it's also more resonant and even haunting. - 63
New York Post
Francois Ozon, perhaps France's hottest director of the moment, is often better creating stylish visuals than dramatically credible situations, but Criminal Lovers is never boring. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Imagine "Hansel and Gretel" by way of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." - 60
The New York Times
Such an amalgam of fairy tales, old movies and tabloid stories that it never develops a life of its own. - 58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's a passionate vision thick with eroticism, but the musky atmosphere gets a little thick and murky.
