Foreign Pick – Love Crime (2010)
Christine works for a multinational company, and she’s making a big name for herself in the corporate world due to her inherent skills and ambition. Nevertheless, she finds herself under the thumb of Isabelle, her boss, who shamelessly takes credit for her protégé’s work while constantly manipulating her into believing it’s all for her own good. Unbeknownst to Isabelle, however, Christine sleeps with her mentor’s boyfriend, Philippe.
Christine’s co-worker Daniel quickly grabs a hold of the situation and advises her friend to acknowledge her own work. When an American agency – which had previously shown interest in recruiting Isabelle – shift their focus towards the young executive, Christine believes she’s finally free from her superior’s clutch, unaware that she’s about to unleash her superior’s wrath. After facing constant humiliation at the hands of Isabelle and a powerless Philippe, the protagonist ultimately decides to take matters into her own hands.
Love Crime was the last movie director Alain Corneau helmed before his untimely death, thus it was released posthumously. I’m not entirely familiar with much of his previous work, but based on this movie alone I’m willing to go through his entire filmography. While there are countless masterpieces across French cinema that are worth a watch – some of which can be found on Netflix – I picked this somewhat low-key effort this week because it echoes the works of legendary filmmakers I admire, such as Hitchcock and Chabrol, aside from just being a wonderful psychological thriller that provides a fair amount of twists. Plus, it boasts Kristin Scott Thomas’ brilliant performance as the devious, tormenting Isabelle.
Two years later, Brian de Palma would co-write and direct Passion, a remake of Love Crime. Even though that film was also added to Netflix, I strongly urge you to check out the original first, given its obvious superiority over its grittier, somewhat erotic English-spoken counterpart, in addition to possessing a much finer ending.
