Crime Is Mine – MOVIE REVIEW

New Every now and then, French filmmaker François Ozon likes to let himself off the hook by offering a light but compelling film based on a stage original. It happened with 8 women in 2002 and again with Potiche (2010) and now we have The crime is mine adapted from the play by George Berr and Louis Verneuil, which first premiered in 1934. It wasn’t until 2021 that he gave us one of his best and most serious works Everything went well (a film dealing with the issue of voluntary euthanasia), Ozon has certainly won the right to compare it with a piece as frivolous as this 2023 offering, now arriving rather late in the UK. It’s as well acted and as sharply made as you’d expect, but it’s a shame that the material as a whole represents a less effective divertissement than the two examples of this type mentioned above.

As the title suggests, a death occurs early in the film when a stage producer is found shot. That same day he had auditioned a young actress, Madeleine (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), and, as was his habit, tried to seduce her. She rejected his advances and walked out, but is now a suspect since he was killed almost immediately afterwards. At first she protests her innocence, but then she realizes that publicizing a murder trial on the pretext of acting in self-defense could make headlines and thus help her career. She lives in an apartment with her best friend Pauline (Rebecca Mander), who is a young lawyer ready to defend her and will also benefit from the publicity that the trial will bring. Ready to see the potential of the situation, Madeleine declares her guilt: “The crime is mine.”

This may be a story about a murder, but it is not a detective story (when we learn the killer’s identity it is not held back for a climactic reveal), and indeed this work is best thought of as a satirical farce. It’s fitting that it’s a film by François Ozon, that as the story progresses there are elements reminiscent of other films, and that’s no coincidence. Indeed, the link between crime and celebrity is echoed Chicago (2002), while a subplot about Madeleine’s romantic feelings for a young man (Édouard Sulpice) who has a rich father (André Dussollier) brings back memories Men prefer blondes (1953). In the later stages of the film, a belatedly introduced character plays a key role: an older silent film star named Odette Chaumette (Isabelle Huppert), who dreams of a comeback. Consequently, this reminds us of the 1950s Sunset Blvd and the unforgettable character of Norma Desmond. The fact that Odette was a man in the original play shows the extent to which this adaptation has a character that belongs more to Ozon than to the original stage play. Since the fictional murder takes place in Paris in 1935, it is entirely appropriate for the press to draw comparisons with other trials of the time. It is therefore by no means impossible that Violette Noziére, who was guilty of parricide in 1933, was mentioned in the stage script. Still, Ozon certainly would have included it here as a fleeting reminder that Isabelle Huppert played that very role in Claude Chabrol in 1978. Perhaps the most pleasing nostalgic homage of all is the allusion to Billy Wilder’s 1934 film Mauvaise grain which starred Danielle Darrieux and then included recordings of two songs she made on that film’s soundtrack.

Ozon’s deft touch is also evident in other ways when it comes to treating this historical story in a contemporary way. Although this comic piece emerges from the activities of a sexual predator who preys on young actresses, Ozon skillfully ensures that the humor in the narrative never clashes with the need to fit into the perspective of today’s #MeToo movement. He also brings up the agency that Madeleine and Pauline use to promote themselves, and since he is a gay director known for appealing to LGBTQ+ audiences, he also adds sympathetic hints that Pauline has warm sexual feelings for Madeleine although, unfortunately, Madeleine’s fondness for her is entirely platonic.

Watch out The crime is mine has its joys and especially in its later stages when Isabella Huppert steps in and rightly makes the film her own. But the actual plot can seem a bit silly at times (it’s not enchanting). So when you watch the wonderfully precise performances of Dusssollier and Fabrice Luchini (the latter as judge), you admire them greatly, but at the same time you feel that such good players should do something more in keeping with their talent. This also applies to less well-known names: Régis Laspalès and Olivier Broche as the detective and his assistant form an extremely effective duo. Incidentally, Tereszkiewicz and Marder are well cast as young women who determine their own fate. It’s paradoxical in that the quality of the works on display and Ozon’s ability to maintain a consistent tone are virtues that also underline the fact that what’s on offer here isn’t really outstanding enough to justify all the talent deployed into it. But perhaps I’m asking a little too much and should be grateful for the pleasures that are provided, including the use of black-and-white, proportion-of-the-day footage in this widescreen film to illustrate what various characters, rather contradictorily, claim is happening his when the producer was shot.

Original title: My crime.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Pour: Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder, Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Édouard Sulpice, Régis Laspalès, Olivier Broche, Félix Lefebvre, Evelyn Buyle, Daniel Prévost, Myriam Boyer.

You François Ozon, professional Eric Altmayer and Nicolas Altmayer, script François Ozon adapted the play together with Philippe Piazzo My crime by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, Ph Manu Dacosse, Art director Jean Rabasse, Ed Laure Gardette, Music Philippe Rombi, costumes Pascaline Chavanne.

Mandarin Films/FOZ/Gaumont/France 2 Cinéma/Playtime/Scope Pictures/Canal+/ Ciné+-Parkland Pictures.
103 mins France/Belgium. 2022. US Rel.: December 25, 2023. UK Rel.: October 18, 2024. Cert. 15.