He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT

(In French, with English subtitles)

Rating: A-

A shot of suspense thriller with a twist.

Audrey Tautou is a promising art student madly in love with a prominent cardiologist (Samuel Le Bihan). As luck would have it, Le Bihan already happens to be married, and his wife is five months pregnant. "Not to worry," thinks Tautou. "I'm the one he truly loves, and he'll leave his wife when the time is right." Something tells me this girl never saw Fatal Attraction.

When last we saw Tautou, she was the kooky but loveable Amélie, forever concocting wild schemes to help her friends and herself find true love. In this new role, she's no less a schemer, but her machinations take a decidely darker turn. The first hint of rough waters ahead occurs when Le Bihan's wife has a miscarriage, and Tautou greets the news with unrestrained joy. One less person to come between her true love and her, you see. Then, as her obsession leads her actions to become more and more desperate, we come to realize this babe has more loose screws than a Home Depot. Le Bihan never realized how good he had it when he only had to deal with the Beast of Gevaudan.

The best part of the film begins at about the midway point, when what seems to be a Fatal Attraction derivative suddenly gets turned on its head. Director Laetitia Colombani winkingly plays upon common film conventions and the way audiences have learned to interpret them, to effectively pull the rug out from under us. At times, the effect is almost humorous, but Tautou and Le Bihan wisely always play it straight in what turn out to be very convincing performances.

There's a bit of a letdown at the film's end, as if Colombani couldn't think of a slam-bang conclusion to the story and just lets it fizzle. At least she remains true to the story's subtle psychological approach, and resists the urge to concoct an over-the-top finale. Had this movie been made in Hollywood, I'm confident it would've turned into a bloodbath before the last reel was through.