One reason I'd like to see 'L'Amant Double' for a second time, is just to count the number of scenes featuring mirrors. A rough estimate: somewhere between twenty and thirty. Sometimes there are two or three mirror scenes in a time span of just a few minutes. A few of them really stand out in a cinematographic way. In one scene, we see a conversation between two people, but it seems as if they are talking to each other's mirror image: they are never shown talking directly to each other.

The symbolism of it all is clear. In 'L'Amant Double', lead character Chloé is in love with twin brothers. At least, that's what she thinks. And that's what we think. Unless the twins are really two sides of the same personality. But two sides of which personality exactly? His, or a projection of hers? What is real, what is imagined? Director François Ozon plays the game of mirrors perfectly, and keeps it up until the very end. When you think it's all clear, there are still some strange things. Which one of the twin brothers was the smoker again?

The film is very stylish. Ozon has made the most of the locations. In the museum where Chloé works as a guard, outrageous art is being exposed. It's a perfect backdrop for some visually beautiful scenes. The clothing, the hairdo's, the furniture: everything is done in the best of Parisian tastes.

There's much to enjoy in 'L'Amant Double', for different kinds of moviegoers. It is a thriller of some sorts, with the suspense building up until the last few minutes. It's also a psychological drama, with lots of twists and turns. And in the very end, there's even a little bit of horror. But overall, this is a very French film, with some kinky scenes and a nice amount of Parisian elegance.

From prolific French auteur François Ozon, L'amant Double is partly a study of sexual obsession, partly an oneiric mystery (think Neil Jordan's In Dreams (1999)), and partly a conventional thriller (more whoisit than whodunnit). Imagine, if you can, Vertigo (1958) remade by someone like Gaspar Noé or Lars von Trier, and you'd be some way towards getting a handle on Ozon's latest; completely barmy (you know you're in strange territory when the second shot of a movie is, quite literally, an internal shot of a vagina), and not very good. As one would expect from Ozon, the aesthetics are solid - the film is built upon an inventive visual style employing juxtaposition, pseudo-split screen, and copious amounts of shots with one person in the frame proper, and the person to whom they're talking only visible in reflection. The sound effects are also excellent and really jolt you out of your seat on a couple of occasions. Similarly, the acting is strong, with Marine Vacth and Jérémie Renier unrecognisable in their respective roles.

However, the melodramatic and self-congratulatory plot is an absolute mess. Many of Ozon's standard tropes are here; a dissection of the academic middle class/intelligentsia, an examination of the schism between appearance and reality, an attempt to elucidate the mind of a complex woman, a psychoanalytical bedrock, the mutability of identity etc. But it's all diffused through an utterly farcical narrative, which fails to get even the basics right. For example, sex is a central theme, but by the time we get to the fourth or fifth sex scene, it has completely lost its potency (compare, for example, the infinitely superior La vie d'Adèle (2013), where sexuality is just as central, but which features only two sex scenes). The same goes for the increasingly ridiculous plot twists, once you get to three or four and you're still in the first half of the movie, you just stop caring. Ozon has always been hit and miss, for every Sitcom (1998) and Swimming Pool (2003), there's an Angel (2007) and a Ricky (2009), and L'amant Double is, in the end, a rather pointless film that seems to think it's saying something exceptionally profound about desire and identity. It isn't.

5/10

Or only half of what you might be getting ... which actually may ring true to those dissapointed in this. The movie really sucks you in and you have to think and figure things out. Answers may be there (or not), but you have to look closely and maybe even watch it more than once to really get what the director wanted you to see.

Having said that, this is really suspensful from start to finish. It keeps you guessing and whatever the answer is you can embrace that or be annoyed. It is very well made and if you don't mind nudity and adult situations, you won't be freaked out by that part of it. It's also important to understand the main character and her journey

*** This review may contain spoilers *** I didn't really appreciate that end. Looked very hasty and disconnected from the rest of the film; as if someone tells us "now came the time to reveal the truth, Take it as it is, and forget what you were watching during one hour". the lack of smoothness and connection,has clearly ripped the end and made it too direct. Also,I found the participation of neighbor "rose" with no meaning. that character has only one purpose, is to increase the suspense without being really related to the story.

After having seen last week the 2016 "Frantz" I continued yesterday my (François) Ozon cure with "The Double Lover" (or "L'amant double" in original) the latest film of the French director, a film that was present also in the 2017 competition at the Cannes festival. Both movies deal with issues of identity, truth and deception and how these can impact relationships between men and women. This is were similarities stop. There are many differences and almost all in favor of the 2016 film.

The story which is 'freely' inspired by a novel by Joyce Carol Oates (which has already originated a movie by David Cronenberg) starts as the story about a relationship between a psychoanalyst and his patient that turns into a strange and uneasy love affair. While the relation between shrink and patient needs to be based on trust and truth, in this case the contrary happens, as each of the two characters avoids fully sharing their feelings, hides things from the past, speaks half truths or plain lies. They seem that they cannot work as a couple on any plan. The bad start of the relation develops to worse and the odd things that happen on screen are complicated by having them told in a mix of genres - French art film with Paris and a museum of disturbing modern art as background, erotic thriller, horror and guilt in the Hitchcock and Polanski traditions. All these get together in a 'bouillion' that becomes less and less credible, up to the point that the story cannot be solved but by explaining that all was some kind of dementia delirium with very prosaic physiological roots. What should have been a sophisticated game of mirrors becomes a multiplication of images by mirrors disposed in a chaotic manner. To make things worse, the ending makes the mistake of explaining too much in sordid details. Hard to believe that the film with this ending comes in the filmography of Ozon just after "Frantz" with the wonderful ambiguity of its open ending.

Acting is also problematic. Ozon's choice of actors seems sometimes odd (not only here) because they are characters that do not feel well in their own skins. In this case he chose Marine Vacth (his discovery in "Young & Beautiful ") for a role that needs more expressiveness and fragility than what the actress delivered on screen. There is no chemistry between her and either of the two selves (or twin brothers) played by Jérémie Renier . I will never complain about seeing again Jacqueline Bisset in a film and I appreciate Ozon's creating in every film of his strong and interesting feminine characters that break the stereotypes, but her role or maybe roles (another odd double) seem to be wasted talent here.

"The Double Lover" never reaches at cinematographic level its ambitions. The jury at Cannes 2017 deserves an award for not giving - despite the names of the director and the cast - any award to this movie.

Although this is a riveting, spectacular, wholly engaging thriller, upon reflection we can conclude that almost everything that happens is in heroine Chloe's mind. One key pointer is the surreal museum in which she works as a guard. The ex-model - an object of vision - now watches people. The setting is where people read the art around them for improved understanding of themselves and life. The "Blood and Flesh" exhibition, the monstrous sculpture of overhead roots, the gallery's vast white spaces, the sculptures that anticipate the fetus-like cysts later removed from Chloe's womb, all point to the fantasy element in her psychodrama. In the pre-credit shot she is having her hair cut. She transforms herself into a more androgynous look. Her hair covers her eyes, then is trimmed to expose them. The action opens on her medical exam, first with a shot of a vagina, then a close-up of her eye, registering pain, perhaps tears. The establishing shot shows Chloe in the stirrups, her doctor peering between Chloe's legs. This establishes her central tensions: her sexuality and her vision of herself. When she goes to her first psychiatric appointment she climbs a vertiginous eye-like spiralling staircase. The stomach pains her doctor can't explain turns out to be a psychological issue around her womb. Chloe is a divided psyche, harbouring a profound sense that she consumed the twin in the womb when she was born. For that she is driven to punish herself.The cause isn't known until she herself is found to have a fetus-like cyst beside the fetus in her own womb. Her relationship with therapist Paul operates on the level of event. But his twin brother, fellow shrink and more violent, effective and punishing lover Louis is Chloe's projection. She imputes to Paul the divided and conflicted self she herself bears. That elaborates her admission that "When you look at me that way, I feel I exist." So, too, her mother is doubled by the Madame Schenker she imagines visiting, who discloses the supposed twins' ruin of her innocent daughter Sandra (whom Chloe also sees as herself). Minor doublings abound. The same actor plays Chloe's gynaecologist and the therapist Dr Wexler she claims to visit. The imagined Madame Schenker is herself doubled by Chloe's neighbour Rose, another woman with an invalid daughter, the girl's bedroom frozen in time, with cats both stuffed and statues to echo Chloe's missing Milo. Louis' office is a glossier double of Paul's, unrealistically opening into the bedroom for his advanced therapy. The Christmas party discussion of phantom twins explains Chloe's sense of having absorbed a sibling in the womb. The background of American pop songs concludes with a particularly pointed lyric, sung by Elvis Presley. Presley himself admitted to a lifelong connection to his twin brother Aron, who died at birth. The film itself has a doubled kind of twin. It's adapted from a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, which David Cronenberg filmed as Dead Ringers.

Ozon is one of the most interesting French directors nowadays but also one having a bumpy career. Either he makes a brilliant film or something definitely mediocre.

This film happens to belong to the last category as well as his 2 previous ones, since here he repeats the style and plot of David Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS.

I notice that he remains in a creative impasse. Here in Mexico the picture has been promoted by word-of-mouth regarding the sex scenes, but for me they are conventional and far from daring.

Push harder, Mr Ozon, because you need to offer better ideas as you previously did.

Good movie in the general tradition of Shutter Island and Black Swan. The film never seems to decide if it wants to work out a story or build up suspense. It's neither a thriller or a drama. Yet I enjoyed watching it. Acting by the two main actors is excellent. There's quite some open eroticism in the French style but always matched to the story. Towards the end I was moved. Worth checking out.

Introducing his film "L'amant double" at the 2017 London Film Festival, director François Ozon informed the British audience that to the French we Brits have a reputation for kinkiness - therefore, he hoped we would enjoy his film.

Plagued by stomach pains that she is told are all in her head, Chloé (Marine Vacth) starts seeing psychiatrist Paul (Jérémie Renier with awful yellow beard and messy hairstyle). The pair fall in love (so much so that he's willing to let her use a dildo on him), but soon after they set up home together Chloé discovers that Paul has a twin brother whom he has never mentioned. Intrigued, she sets up a meeting with the twin, Louis (Renier again, with same awful yellow beard but neater hair) and before long she's boffing both brothers. But for what reason did Paul disown his twin, and how will that impact on Chloé's own fragile mental state?

So what is this film - psychological thriller? Mystery? Comedy, even (Myriam Boyer's cat-obsessed neighbour)? Ozon has produced such an entertaining film that it does not seem to matter. Which is not to say the film is flawless - I am not convinced the final explanation is 100% watertight; and French films where women lose their grip on reality are ten a penny.

Vacth is an engaging lead and Renier constructs two distinct characters as the twins (and, like Vacth, engages in a decent amount of on-screen nudity, which is always welcome). A surprise to me was the splendid performance of Jacqueline Bisset in her own dual role - it is a very nice turn indeed.

This film is annoying and totally uninteresting from beginning to the end. Between the inaudible remarks of the main actress diaphanous insignificant and aesthetically disgusting (it makes a little think of a praying Mantis straying frigid lost), the scenario without tail nor head and a story that makes no sense, the title " perverse games of a tormented pseudo-bourgeoise"would be better suited to all this waste of time and money. Really, this film held a selection rank at the Cannes Film Festival? It is pathetic

In the case of this film, it is that when it seems that it is talking about a thriller, it goes to a drama and then to fear and at the end with so many twists, so many dreams, you do not know if the director himself knows what he is telling you .

It's too twisted to have any logic.

The actors could be said that they are fine, if we knew what they want to tell us, but as we do not know, we do not know if they are good or where they are going.

Photography, the truth is that in the interiors at night, it is beautiful, on the street it is not pretty and if it is inside during the day it is normal. The problem is that since you do not know what you are seeing, photography does not help you to value it either.

The work of the director, telling that he has not known how to take the film to any point, that he does not know how to narrate with the camera. All the plans are simple and do not say anything. It bores because you do not know what you're seeing, it's not very good.

When you finish seeing it you will think that you did not take it away.

"L'Amant Double (2017 release from France; US title Double Lover; 115 min.) brings the story of Chloe. As the movie opens, Chloe is discussing unexplained stomach aches with her doctor, who decided to refer Chloe to a psychologist, Paul Meyer. After a number of sessions, Chloe and Paul fall in love and she moves in with Paul. By coincidence, Chloe finds out that Paul has a twin brother, Louis, also a psychologist. Why didn't Paul tell Chloe about his twin brother? What becomes of Paul and Chloe? At this point we are 15 min,. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from well-regarded French director Francois Ozon, who previously brought us "Frantz", "In The House", "Potiche", just to name those (I absolutely loved "In the House"). Here he goes a very different direction, and brings a (semi-erotic) psychological thriller that even has some Hitchcockian elements to it: is everyone really who they appear to be? who is misleading whom? It all should make for a terrific movie. Alas, it isn't to be, and not by a long shot. Due to the plot-heavy nature of this film, I really don't want to say much more . But let me just say that by the end, it was utterly impossible to keep track as to who really was who, and some of the plot twists are nothing short of preposterous. Beware, there is quite a bit of nudity in the film, starting with a very weird opening shot. Belgian actor Jérémie Renier plays the dual roles of the twin brothers, and does the best he can with the material he's given. French actress Marine Vacth, on the other hand, looks utterly lost as Chloe. The legendary Jacqueline Bisset, as the mother, is unrecognizable (I didn't even realize it was her until the end credits rolled).

"L'Amant Double" premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival (how it made the festival's cut is absolutely beyond me). "Double Lover" recently opened on a single screen for all of Southwest Florida. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (about 15 people). I cannot imagine that this will play a long time in the theater. I typically love foreign movies, and knowing Ozon's reputation going in, I was really looking forward to this. While in good conscience I cannot recommend "Double Lover", I of course encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Certainly there are plenty of different opinions in relation to this film, and that is not wrong at all. Art itself is very subjective, and categorizing this film just by the negative reviews a sector of audience has gave it, does not change the fact this film is a great piece of work, denying this would be demeriting the vision (and apparently numerous working hours) the director and all of his crew invested. 'L'amant double' is truly a movie audience should not afford missing, after seeing it then you could properly get your own conclusions, but i guarantee you'll have 1 hour and 50 minutes of a mental, thrilling and an audiovisual experience you would not forget. Personally i consider it a unique psicological thriller with an outstanding photography. P.S. Do not watch this movie if you are not willing to appreciate an uncomfortable work of art.

What comes out of Hollywod is complete trash. While Ozon has made a provocative movie about female sexual empowerment.

The director has made a lot of movies about female empowerment. This movie is about female sexual liberation. Loosely based" on the Joyce Carol Oates novel Lives of the Twins .

"I think the English are twisted enough to understand this movie," quipped director François Ozon. Ozon is going to go down in history as one of the all greats, as a film director.

You will have to watch it a few times to see all the subtle cues. The movie is about a woman and her two lovers. Symbolism for two sides of personality. What is real or nor real is left to your imagination. The theme is about sexual female empowerment. Being dominate and submissive. She wears a dildo while making love to her partner after she sees him with another woman. Being a voyeur and physically aroused , on top (cowgirl), while watching her reflection in the window.

She is unhappy with her partner being meek and passive. Knowing in her mind, her other imagined or real jealous lover makes her hot and desired, will thrust harder and deeper during sex, ejaculate harder and gives her the female sexual fulfillment of a women, whose sexual capacity is far greater than that of her male.lover.

Where she actually prefers a more sexually aggressive lover who will dominate her. Someone she can't control. There are lots of cues. Right at the start she cuts her long hair, being a former model and goes for a more androgynous look. Partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.

There is a cat in the movie which is metaphorically obvious. Does the cat come out to play? Euphemism for vagina. In one scene, in the movie, the director shows us a close up of the vagina.

In another scene, the camera seems to travel down her mouth and into her oesophagus. " I saw the inside of her mouth and I realised that the larynx looked like a clitoris. It was a big surprise for me that the vocal cords look like a vagina. It was in the spirit of the film" says director François Ozon.

The film is about the subconscious of a woman and deals with sexuality, her exploration of sexuality. Exploring her sexuality - domination and submission.

For my money Francois Ozon turned out one half-decent film, 8 Women surrounded before and after by a pile of pretentious twaddle targeting the Academic-pseud axis and this is yet another destined to ricochet like a pin-ball around the Festival circuit. Stories about psycho=analysis are hardly new, even when Hitchcock had a stab with Spellbound it was old hat but it keeps cropping up in titles as diverse as, say, equs and Dressed To Kill. So, yes, there is a market for this stuff but Ozon is the wrong promoter.

"L'amant double" or "Double Lover" is a French/Belgian co-production in the French language from 2017 and the most recent release by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker François Ozon and he is also one of the writers here who adapted the novel this film is based on. He was around the age of 50 when he made it and reunites with Marine Vacth, his muse maybe you could say already as she is really at the very center of this 105-minute film from start to finish. This sure was an interesting film that oozes creativity constantly and as always with Ozon there are many really beautiful and sensual shots here and you find out right away at the very beginning that Ozon still isn't scared of touching taboos as we see the close-up as a vagina, strap-on sex and there is a great deal of nudity in here and also visual references about a girl's period, also the core subject of one of Ozon's earlier short films by the way. "Frantz" was a very different work for Ozon and here this movie feels like his usual approach again. Vacth is of course an absolute stunner and I am usually not into short-haired girls, so this is a huge compliment coming from me. She looks like the young Juliette Binoche minus a bit of cuteness plus a bit of hotness I'd say. But performance-wise, Jérémie Renier is maybe even more impressive handling the difficult effort of playing two characters in this movie. Or is he really? That's the question you will ask yourself quickly after the young woman runs into the doppelganger for the first time. And from that moment on, nothing is what it seems. I really loved the mirror references and they were among the very highlights of the film. The cat references weren't bad either and generally the ways in which Ozon made obvious how different the 2 men are: the money paying moments, the one who is in charge of talking during these sessions, the birthday behavior etc. Sadly, as much wit and beauty may be included here, Ozon's constant attempts at making this special, packed with symbolisms, metaphors etc. feel sometimes too much. One good example would be when we see Bisset being the mother of the protagonist suddenly. But the cat jewellery item on her was interesting again. Nonetheless there are moments when the film just tries to be a bit too deep and smart and significant for its own good and the result is that it does feel a bit fake and for the sake of it, maybe even pretentious. A thumbs-up goes to the neighbor and the actress Myriam Boyer did an amazing job combining strangeness with kindness and you never knew what she really was. An absolute scene stealer in my opinion. Back to the mirrors I mentioned earlier, I also want to say it is such a shame that at the very end they really messed up on that regard too with the very last scene/shot unfortunately as this was really the one and only moment where the mirror reference felt weak and obsolete, but it stays in the mind because it just happens before the closing credits roll in. All in all, I would say that this was certainly an enjoyable watch, but it could have been much better too with stronger focus and less going all-in. The longer it went, the more you became as confused as the protagonist I guess. I think as a family drama with thriller elements it could have worked best. The psychological horror and mystery genre moments did the least for me and they were pretty awkward at times. I don't know how much Ozon took directly out of the novel, but I do believe that dialogue writing may not have been his biggest strength as there were moments when the talking did not feel too authentic. You will realize them when you see them, maybe consider completely others than myself that way. For me one of these moments was when we see her stand up to the other brother during the scene that results in the breaking glass from the mirror (once again). Nonetheless, I believe the positive is more frequent than the negative, especially in the film's first half and I recommend checking it out. Not a must-see or one of Ozon's very best, but a decent achievement as a whole. Thumbs-up and I give it a positive recommendation. Oh yeah and as for the reference in the title of my review, I certainly had this feeling during the domination scenes with the second brother, but of course I cannot say if this really inspired Ozon. That's really all now though. Watch this one if you like French non-comedy films.

Only the french can open a movie with a vagina wide spread and not call it porn.

The french certainly have a different tolerance for nudity and sex as we all know but if it becomes pointless it just results in a cheap tool, as sex sells. I have to say though, that I didn't have the feeling at any time in the movie. All nudity scenes are there for a reason. While the style in which the film was shot in, is thrilling and you want to know what happens next, this has a small downside to it.

This movie has two possible endings, which you can see coming pretty early. So I was thinking either this will happen, or that. One of them then actually happened. So you have a 50/50 chance of being surprised. Normally I hate, when movies are to predictable, but in this case, it didn't actually hurt the film that much. The last scene though (without getting into spoilers) feels just ridiculous and it feels like, its simply there for pure shock value and nothing else to end the film with sort of a jump scare. Overall it's still an entertaining movie, nothing new, nothing to classy but you wont be bored for a minute and that also matters a lot.

This is the latest offering from Swimming Pool director Francois Ozon. It is skillfully acted by both the main characters and by Jaqueline Bisset. The build up and suspense had me holding onto my chair.

Didn't have any intention of writing a review, but is anger that makes me spend a few minutes of my time for this rubbish i have just watched.The ending of the film is so ludicrous, that i have just appreciated the ending of Lost(and i didn't like it at all).When you want to make your audience open their mouths from surpise by the twist in the story that you have just gave them,well the twist must be credible and it has to relate with previous scenes of the film(the ending of the Sixth Sense is a perfect example).But here the twist in the story is so ridiculous that you actually wonder if the director believes that he's adressing 3 year-olds.Anyway when a film ends and you catch yourself asking which scenes were true and which were fantasies of the leading actress(Marine Vacht), well you come to realize that something went very wrong.The film also has a lot of sex scenes but after watching it i fully understand why,when the story is so weak the oldest trick in the book is to serve a lot of nudity to viewers.I will stop here,i hope that if you watched it, you didn't pay any of your money like me.

I'll just start with saying this is one of the worst films I have seen in the last two years. This entire movie looks and feels like it was written as some half-assed 50 Shades-ish Wattpad fic of which the writer only wrote it to get off to. Whoever wrote this definetely has no knowledge at all about mental illnesses or therapy. The plot twist at the ending felt rushed and made no sense.

A very poor film. I wouldn't bother. Terrible unclear plot no real point to the movie. Sometimes just grim for the hell of it. to think his last film was the masterpiece that was Frantz and he used to make films like 8 femme and Swimming pool. He really is more miss than hit these days

Double Lover starts in the best way, as all pieces are introduced. Then, the cast, brings another flavor as its blends and secures what is being experienced, but towards the third act, G!!!, All tumbles down in such an incredible mess, that just leaves you wonder you just wasted two hours of your time.

I rated this with 2 just because of Bisset.

Ok it´s a french movie that starts with a weird scene. But if that thing is from marina vacth than it changes as the fiolm goes. you´ll understand it latter.

There are some goofs in the movie, for instance the man´s beard that grows up in the same scene.

sorry but i didn´t understand this plot. maybe i am dumb...

imdb if you think i wrote some spoiler i didn´t mean it

Interesting movie but I'm not sure if the script has some gaps.

Gave 5 scores only for the beautiful and cosy apartment, where the couple lived in the movie. Very cheap scenario, wannabe interesting and philosophical, but in vain. unnecessary scenes.