Considering
how prolific Joyce Carol Oates has been over the past thirty-some years, it is
surprising there haven’t been twenty of thirty more feature adaptations of her
work (but there are a lot of short films listed on her imdb page). Ironically, two
of her novels that were adapted here in America were subsequently remade in
France. Fittingly, one of those was The
Lives of the Twins a doppelganger-themed “women’s suspense” novel written
under her trashier pen-name Rosamond Smith. Twins will fascinate, seduce, and
generally disregard doctor-patient ethics in François Ozon’s Double Lover (trailer here), which opens on Valentine’s Day.
Dr.
Paul Meyer made good progress curing Chloé Fortin’s psychosomatic stomach
aches, until he stopped seeing her professionally and started seeing her
personally. (They’re French, so apparently that’s okay there.) Fortin is truly
mad about Meyer, but as soon as they move in together, she realizes how little
she knows about him. For instance, his surname used to be Delord, but he took
his mother’s maiden name when his father was unjustly embroiled in a scandal. At
least, that is the story he tells when pressed. He still keeps mum on his twin
brother Louis Delord, who also happens to be a shrink.
Fortin
stumbles on Delord by accident, but she quickly books an appointment. She first
goes hoping to get some answers, but keeps returning out of sexual attraction.
Delord could indeed be described as Meyer’s “evil twin,” especially considering
his even laxer code of conduct regarding patients.
Double Lover can definitely be
described as an “erotic thriller,” but it would be a risky choice for Valentine’s
date-night. It would be spoilery to explain, but there is some seriously adult
subject matter here, way beyond mild steaminess. Eyebrows will be raised. In
most other respects, Ozon observes and refines the conventions of psychological
thrillers, but he over-relies on dream scenes as a symbolic literary device.
Regardless,
master genre cinematographer Manuel Dacosse (Alléluia, Strange Color of You Body’s Tears, The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun) makes it all look like a De Palma movie trying to look
like Hitchcock (which is a good thing). As Fortin, Marine Vacth projects enough
sexual tension for a dozen Hitchcock heroines. She is not a blonde, but with her
brunette bob, she could ironically pass for the younger sister of Isabella
Rossellini, who had the analogous role in Lies
of the Twins, the previous TV movie adaptation of the Oates/Smith novel.
Dardenne
Brothers regular Jérémie Renier is terrific as Meyer and Delord, creating two
very distinct personas, while leaving space for our myriad suspicions to grow. Jacqueline
Bisset is also excellent as a third-act secret-revealing character. Of course,
Ozon has long been one of the best at handling actors, but that is especially
so in this case, with nearly everyone having dark sides and dual natures to
contend with.
Honestly,
DL is almost too risqué and
risk-taking for its own good, but Ozon drenches his excesses in style. This
could well be too much for 50 Shades to
handle, because it makes it look like the smarmy cheese that it is. Recommended
for patrons who like their French psycho-sexual thrillers on the wild side, but
sure to generate mixed responses with the rest of us, Double Lover opens this Wednesday (2/14) in New York, at the Quad Cinema.
