Sometimes when I watch a film, I say to myself later "why did I even bother finishing that film?"--this is exactly what happened when I finished watching Les Amants Criminels. Despite some excellent moments and a couple decent plot twists, I felt dirty and uneasy about having watched this mess through to the end. It wasn't just because the film was so sexually graphic or violent--though these are big turnoffs for me and many other viewers. It was these factors PLUS the fact that certain things just don't need to be shown on film and I worry about people who WANT to see this in films. For example, the two young and totally annoying "lovers" are kidnapped by a guy who lives in the woods. The girl is kept locked in a dungeon with a rotting corpse and the guy is brought upstairs to be anally raped and fed the leg of the rotting corpse in the basement. I just didn't need to see this. Why it was shown is possibly because some directors and writers include awful scenes like this because they don't believe in the power of the film and toss in sick stuff to try to either generate controversy or appeal to prurient interests. As a result, I just can't see recommending this film to anyone.
It does get a score of three because there is the germ of a really good film there--it just gets lost among all the crap. The notion of a killing and the odd motivation behind it (that doesn't become apparent until later) is interesting. Plus, her boyfriend who seems to have some serious problems with his latent homosexual desires is interesting as well. BUT, having him raped and then enjoy it is just sick and unnecessary--and socially irresponsible. I would have really thought it interesting if they had further explored this character's latent homosexuality--it WAS apparent several times throughout the film.
Additionally, the film is actually a very twisted take on Hansel and Gretel. A modern retelling of the tale is a great idea--just not when it is combined with a touches from THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and DELIVERANCE! The people who made this mess should be ashamed, but I'm sure they went on to make money and more sick stuff like this.
It does get a score of three because there is the germ of a really good film there--it just gets lost among all the crap. The notion of a killing and the odd motivation behind it (that doesn't become apparent until later) is interesting. Plus, her boyfriend who seems to have some serious problems with his latent homosexual desires is interesting as well. BUT, having him raped and then enjoy it is just sick and unnecessary--and socially irresponsible. I would have really thought it interesting if they had further explored this character's latent homosexuality--it WAS apparent several times throughout the film.
Additionally, the film is actually a very twisted take on Hansel and Gretel. A modern retelling of the tale is a great idea--just not when it is combined with a touches from THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and DELIVERANCE! The people who made this mess should be ashamed, but I'm sure they went on to make money and more sick stuff like this.