December 24, 2023
FILM: THE CRIME IS MINE
DIRECTED BY: FRANCOIS OZON
STARRING: NADIA TERESZKIEWICZ, REBECCA MARDER, ISABELLE HUPPERT
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Because of the success of films such as Knives Out and Murder on the Orient Express in recent years, other comedy/mystery/thrillers are not surprisingly making their way to cinemas. They’re usually easy to digest, very entertaining, and filled with a lot of familiar and colorful actors. The new French film The Crime is Mine (Mon Crime is its original title) takes the age-old genre, hastens its pace, and delights its most ardent followers with plenty of twists and surprises.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz stars as Madeleine Verdier, an actress in the 1930s who can barely pay the rent. During a meeting she has with a producer, a gun is fired, and the man dies. Did Madeleine do it? We don’t actually see her commit the crime but she does come running out soon after. The interesting twist here is that she admits to it and then becomes a major star making films, appearing on stage, and gracing the cover of magazines. She’s thrilled at the turn of events until a fading silent film star, Odette Chaumette, played by Isabelle Huppert, steps up to claim she killed the producer so that she can revitalize her own career.
Usually we wait until the end of such films to find out who the murderer really is. However, that becomes almost inconsequential given the fame and attention these actresses receive. In this regard, The Crime is Mine is refreshing and pretty unpredictable. I also think writer/director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, Summer of 85) is making a statement about the lure of becoming a celebrity rather than actually being a good actor. Think about all of the “stars” that have come and gone during the TikTok era. Are they getting famous just to be famous? Are they willing to do anything even if it is unethical to reach their goal of fame? There are also MeToo related themes here of sexual harassment and male dominated rule making in the money-oriented entertainment business. Certainly, such issues also were present in the 1930s.
These underlying themes are only secondary though to the genuine lightness of the film and the pure entertainment it is trying to provide. The film moves at a fast pace with little let up. That’s a good thing, as it doesn’t get bogged down with anything unnecessary to the almost cartoon-like tale it is trying to tell.
The sets and costumes are pretty magnificent. Ozon has paid great attention to detail in establishing the opulence associated with the entertainment business during that era. He also uses black and white to depict the details the women tell about their supposed involvement with the murder. They look like the kinds of scenes we’d see in 1930s murder mysteries on screen, which keeps the film in tune with that era’s fictional productions. The line is blurred between the characters’ realities and their stories because we are essentially watching a film where there really isn’t much resemblance to the actual reality of the 1930s. Films were made to escape the Depression, not to reflect what people were actually experiencing.
The cast is quite good at providing a consistent tone with off-the-wall characters that are generally larger than life, especially Isabelle Huppert at Odette. The music score vacillates between Hitchcockian mysterious-sounding motifs to genuine whimsical comedy. Yet, overall there is an air of performance as if the actors, composers, and director all want us to know that this is really nothing more than an entertaining romp that nostalgically looks back on an era when such films were the norm and superheroes and the Depression were nowhere to be found.
The Crime is Mine played at the Chicago International Film Festival this year. It is opening this week in limited release, including the Music Box Theater in Chicago.
FILM: THE CRIME IS MINE
DIRECTED BY: FRANCOIS OZON
STARRING: NADIA TERESZKIEWICZ, REBECCA MARDER, ISABELLE HUPPERT
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Because of the success of films such as Knives Out and Murder on the Orient Express in recent years, other comedy/mystery/thrillers are not surprisingly making their way to cinemas. They’re usually easy to digest, very entertaining, and filled with a lot of familiar and colorful actors. The new French film The Crime is Mine (Mon Crime is its original title) takes the age-old genre, hastens its pace, and delights its most ardent followers with plenty of twists and surprises.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz stars as Madeleine Verdier, an actress in the 1930s who can barely pay the rent. During a meeting she has with a producer, a gun is fired, and the man dies. Did Madeleine do it? We don’t actually see her commit the crime but she does come running out soon after. The interesting twist here is that she admits to it and then becomes a major star making films, appearing on stage, and gracing the cover of magazines. She’s thrilled at the turn of events until a fading silent film star, Odette Chaumette, played by Isabelle Huppert, steps up to claim she killed the producer so that she can revitalize her own career.
Usually we wait until the end of such films to find out who the murderer really is. However, that becomes almost inconsequential given the fame and attention these actresses receive. In this regard, The Crime is Mine is refreshing and pretty unpredictable. I also think writer/director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, Summer of 85) is making a statement about the lure of becoming a celebrity rather than actually being a good actor. Think about all of the “stars” that have come and gone during the TikTok era. Are they getting famous just to be famous? Are they willing to do anything even if it is unethical to reach their goal of fame? There are also MeToo related themes here of sexual harassment and male dominated rule making in the money-oriented entertainment business. Certainly, such issues also were present in the 1930s.
These underlying themes are only secondary though to the genuine lightness of the film and the pure entertainment it is trying to provide. The film moves at a fast pace with little let up. That’s a good thing, as it doesn’t get bogged down with anything unnecessary to the almost cartoon-like tale it is trying to tell.
The sets and costumes are pretty magnificent. Ozon has paid great attention to detail in establishing the opulence associated with the entertainment business during that era. He also uses black and white to depict the details the women tell about their supposed involvement with the murder. They look like the kinds of scenes we’d see in 1930s murder mysteries on screen, which keeps the film in tune with that era’s fictional productions. The line is blurred between the characters’ realities and their stories because we are essentially watching a film where there really isn’t much resemblance to the actual reality of the 1930s. Films were made to escape the Depression, not to reflect what people were actually experiencing.
The cast is quite good at providing a consistent tone with off-the-wall characters that are generally larger than life, especially Isabelle Huppert at Odette. The music score vacillates between Hitchcockian mysterious-sounding motifs to genuine whimsical comedy. Yet, overall there is an air of performance as if the actors, composers, and director all want us to know that this is really nothing more than an entertaining romp that nostalgically looks back on an era when such films were the norm and superheroes and the Depression were nowhere to be found.
The Crime is Mine played at the Chicago International Film Festival this year. It is opening this week in limited release, including the Music Box Theater in Chicago.