''Criminal Lovers'' (French title: ''Les amants criminels'') is a 1999

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

and horror film by French director

François Ozon François Ozon (; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. Ozon is considered one of the most important modern French filmmakers. His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeli ...

. It is a modern retelling of

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

Plot

High school student Alice convinces her boyfriend and lover Luc to murder their classmate Saïd, with whom she was having an affair, and who, she claims, raped her. When they dispose of his body in the woods late one night, the couple get lost on their way back to their car and are taken in by a mysterious old hermit. Matters take a bizarre turn when the stranger locks the young lovers in his cellar with the dead body of Saïd and reveals that he plans to eat them. The stranger harnesses Luc and convinces him to have sex by allowing Luc and Alice to survive. After sharing the stranger's bed with him, Luc escapes from the forest without killing the hermit. When the couple emerge from the forest, they find the police near their car. The authorities have learnt of their murder of Saïd, and arrest them and the hermit, apparently after Saïd's body is found. Luc gets arrested after getting caught in a bear trap, and Alice tries to run away but is eventually caught and killed by the police. In the final sequence, Luc, in vain, tries to stop the police, who are beating the forester. In despair and anguish, Luc is carried to the city in the police car.

Cast

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a rating of 67% based on 15 critics, with an average rating of 6.1/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Neil Smith of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

called the film "unsettling, subversive thriller that combines sadism, cannibalism, and homoeroticism to increasingly delirious effect".

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' compared it to ''

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...

'' and

fairy tale.

Elvis Mitchell Elvis Mitchell (born December 6, 1958) is an American film critic, host of the public radio show ''The Treatment'', and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', the ''LA Weekly ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' had criticized the film, writing that "it never develops a life of its own" because of " tsamalgam of fairy tales, old movies and tabloid stories".

Plot

Cast

Reception

References

External links