‘Love Crime’ opens with two immaculately dressed women in a chic Parisian drawing room at night and it’s really unclear what is going on here. Christine, the older of the two appears to be dictating notes to the Isabelle the younger one sitting with a laptop but at the same time she is also making hot and cold passes at her too.  Philippe, a goodlooking young man joins them and is all over Christine who immediately summarily dismisses Isabelle claiming their meeting has ended. Thus starts an intriguing power struggle between these two high-flying female advertising executives that we soon realize can only end badly.  For one of them at least.

Christine, the Agency’s ruthless Boss, claims credit for her younger colleague’s ideas just one to many times, and so Isabelle deliberately overshadows her mentor by directly by-passing her and pleasing the American bosses back in Washington thus invoking Christine’s rage and her determination to kill off Isabelle’s career. This only provokes the younger woman into devising an elaborate plan that takes her own revenge so much more further than that. 

These are two very scary women : Christine is icy cold, level-headed, totally focused, manipulative and as she tells Isabelle, her mantra is ‘Want it …. And Watch out’.  Isabelle on the other hand is highly emotional and somewhat like a spoilt child who feels she has been deprived of what’s hers by right.  The only two things they have in common is their lust for power and for making out with Phillipe, but even with the latter Christine still only thinks about herself.

Stunning performances by Kristin Scott Thomas (fast heading to the top of my list of favorite actors) and the French star Ludivine Sagnier.  They are perfectly cast as the two rivals, particularly Ms. Scott Thomas as Christine who we are never really sure actually loves or hates Isabelle.  Or maybe both.  The plots success depends on the fact that we must assume that the French police are as dumb as they seem not to see through Isabelle’s scheme, but that’s really a minor irritant in this fast-paced totally enthralling drama.

It’s not a perfect piece but like the Agency’s Offices where there never seems much actual real work going on, it’s still beautiful to look at and enjoy.

P.S Director and Co-Writer Alain Corneau best known for ‘Tous les Matins du Monde’ sadly died just before the movie was premiered. 

★★★★★★★★