''L'Amant double'' (released in the United States as ''Double Lover'') is a 2017

erotic thriller The erotic thriller is a film subgenre defined as a thriller with a thematic basis in illicit romance or sexual fantasy. Though exact definitions of the erotic thriller can vary, it is generally agreed "bodily danger and pleasure must remain i ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by

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 ...

, based on the 1987 novel ''Lives of the Twins'' (also known as ''Kindred Passions'') by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

. It stars

Marine Vacth Marine Vacth (born 9 April 1991) is a French actress and Model (people), model. Life and career Vacth was born on 9 April 1991 in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. She grew up in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort. Her father is a truck driver ...

as a young woman named Chloé who discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.

Plot

Chloé, a dowdy museum attendant suffering depression and abdominal pain, consults a gynaecologist. She is told that no physical cause can be found and what she needs is a psychiatrist. She consults Paul, under whose sympathetic care she smartens up her appearance and reacts more warmly to people. In fact they have fallen in love, and they move into an apartment together. Unpacking things, she finds that Paul has changed his name and hidden his family details from her. In the street she sees Paul's double who, she discovers, is a psychiatrist named Louis. Booking a session with him, he is aggressive and she leaves. Next time, he virtually rapes her and after that she returns for more. It emerges that the violent Louis is the estranged twin of the gentle Paul. Louis tries to run her down in the parking garage after following her from Sandra's house. He has left a heart as a present for her, claiming it to be from his cat. (It's not) When Chloé's pain increases dramatically, she is taken to hospital and undergoes surgery. It is found that she was carrying her unborn sister, a parasitic twin, in her womb.

Cast

as Chloé *

Jérémie Renier (; born 6 January 1981) is a Belgian actor. His film debut was in 1992 at the age of 11 in a small Belgian film entitled "Les sept péchés capitaux (The Seven Deadly Sins)". He became better known to worldwide audiences in '' Brotherhood of ...

as Paul and Louis *

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet ...

as Mrs. Schenker and Chloé's mother *

Myriam Boyer Myriam Boyer (born 23 May 1948) is a French actress. She appeared in more than eighty films and television shows since 1970. At the age of 18, she married with whom she had a son, Clovis Cornillac. From 1975 until his death in 1999 she was marr ...

as Rose * Dominique Reymond as Gynecologist and Agnès Wexler

Release

The film was selected to compete for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

in the main competition section at the

2017 Cannes Film Festival The 70th Cannes Film Festival took place from 17 to 28 May 2017, in Cannes, France. Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was the president of the jury for the main competition. Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and closing cerem ...

. It had its world premiere at Cannes on 26 May 2017, with a simultaneous theatrical release in France on the same day.

Critical reception

''L'Amant double'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On

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 ...

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 holds a 71% approval rating based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Double Lover'' offers kinky pleasures that should thrill fans of classic erotic cinema while adding some uniquely transgressive European twists." 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 70 out of 100 from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

At the 8th Magritte Awards, the film received a nomination in the category of Best Actor for Renier.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amant Double 2017 films 2017 thriller films 2010s erotic thriller films 2010s French-language films Belgian erotic drama films Belgian erotic thriller films Films about twin brothers Films based on American novels Films directed by François Ozon Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris French erotic drama films French erotic thriller films 2010s French films Films scored by Philippe Rombi 2010s Belgian films Mars Films films French-language Belgian films