LOVE IS A PERFECT CRIME /
L’Amour est un crime parfait

 

West Coast Premiere • Thriller • France, 2013

DCP • 2.35 • Dolby Digital • Color • 110 min

 

Directed by: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu

Written by: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu, from Philippe Djian’s novel

Cinematography: Guillaume Deffontaines

Film Editing: Annette Dutertre

Original Score: Caravaggio

Produced by: Bruno Pesery (Arena Films)

Coproduced by: Gaumont, Arte France Cinema, Rhône-Alpes Cinema, Entre Chien et Loup

Cast: Mathieu Almaric (Marc), Karin Viard (Marianne), Maiwenn (Anna), Sara Forrestier (Annie)

International Sales: Gaumont

 

An attractive student has gone missing after spending the night with Marc, a philandering professor at the University of Lausanne. Marc’s reputation precedes him, and as expected, the school’s resident Lothario is soon under suspicion by the authorities. Less expected, however, is the appearance of the missing student’s beautiful stepmother Anna, poking around for clues. Marc, a man at the mercy of his own appetites, decides to make her his next conquest. Adapted from Incidences by Philippe Dijan, whose other novels inspired the films Betty Blue and Unforgivable, this chilly thriller uses its Swiss Alps setting to maximum effect. Mathieu Almaric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Quantum of Solace) is commanding as the cigarette and sex addicted lit teacher with a sister hidden amongst the skeletons in his closet.

 

Even before their first feature Summer’s End (1999) writing/directing brothers Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu were making films together. After seeing their grandfather’s 16mm films, the young brothers made short after short, trading off writing and directing responsibilities. Their early features were often set in the high mountains of the Pyrenees, the province where they grew up. Eclectic in their approach and enthusiastic cinephiles by nature, their films happily shape-shift from thriller to black comedy, always peppered with sly references to iconic filmmakers such as Hitchcock, Kubrick, Renoir, and Chabrol. Most surprising of these perhaps, is Happy End (2009), a woolly mélange of road movie, apocalyptic disaster film and soft-core erotica. Love is a Perfect Crime marks long-time collaborator, actor Mathieu Almaric’s fourth film with the filmmaking duo.

 

 “An exciting and clever film, extremely well-acted and beautifully effected, narratively as well as aesthetically, and not to be missed.

- Trish Ferris SOUND ON SIGHT

 “L'Amour est un crime parfait has an alluring cold beauty about it that is in perfect harmony with its sordid subject matter.”

-James Travers FILMS DE FRANCE

“Almaric cleverly underplays the playboy side of his character, suggesting there’s something mysterious about him that attracts practically all women...”

- Boyd van Hoeij HOLLYWOOD REPORTER