French cinema is possibly best known for its compelling personal dramas. But you’d have to say it’s not really associated with wacky screwball comedy – at least outside France. But that’s exactly what acclaimed director François Ozon delivers with The Crime is Mine.
The situation is a bit of an odd one, because comedies apparently account for 60% of the French box office, but only 35% of the films shown in other countries. And of course the French famously adored Jerry Lewis and Jacques Tati – both legends of comedy.
For his part, Ozon is a bit of a bowerbird. His breakthrough came with 2003’s Swimming Pool, a mystery with Hitchcockian overtones. But since then, he’s gone on to make films in diverse genres: heavy dramas (like 2009’s Hideaway); domestic thrillers (In the House – 2012); psychological romances (Double Lover – 2017); and true crime (By the Grace of God – 2018). So the fact he’s gone for a zany comedy shouldn’t really come as a great surprise.
The story opens in 1930s Paris, where two young women are struggling to afford the dingy apartment that they share. Madeleine Verdier (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) is an aspiring actress; while Pauline Mauléon (Rebecca Marder) is a newly qualified lawyer who hasn’t found it easy to find a job. But it seems like Madeleine might have a big break. She’s landed an audition with renowned producer Montferrand (Jean-Christophe Bouvet). During the meeting however, Montferrand makes some unwelcome advances, causing Madeleine to leave. But when Montferrand is found shot dead later that afternoon, and Madeleine can’t account for her whereabouts, she becomes the prime suspect in his murder.
Madeleine is innocent of the crime. But during the police and judicial investigations, she doesn’t help herself with some contradictory statements and mental blanks. The police also discover she has a gun. Forced into a corner and facing years in prison, Madeleine confesses to the murder – based on assurances from investigating magistrate Gustave Rabusset (Fabrice Luchini) of a reduced sentence. But Pauline has other plans. Even though she knows her friend didn’t kill Montferrand, she devises a strategy to use Montferrand’s actions as the basis for a claim that Madeleine shot him in self-defence. When the hearing takes a dramatic turn, both Madeleine and Pauline are thrust into the public spotlight. It seems luck might have turned for them. But a dark cloud looms on the horizon in the form of the mysterious Odette Chaumette (Isabelle Huppert).
The plot is actually from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil titled Mon Crime. Indeed, Mon Crime was adapted for the screen for the American films True Confession (starring Carole Lombard and Fred McMurray) in 1937 and for Cross My Heart (1946). In all those versions, the lawyer character is a man, but Ozon and screenwriting partner Philippe Piazzo (Frantz) have cleverly re-framed the character as a woman. They also nod to the era via the character of André Bonnard (Édouard Sulpice), Madeleine’s rich but shiftless boyfriend. The character is based on the lead character in the 1934 film Mauvaise Graine (Bad Seed) – famous for being Billy Wilder’s (co-)directorial debut. The film is directly referenced here in a scene where Madeleine and Pauline go to a screening of it.
If the story of a woman becoming famous via a murder trial seems rather familiar, it’s the basic plot of Chicago (the musical and film), although the original source material for Chicago was written earlier (in 1926). But while Chicago retains a slightly dark edge, Ozon goes all-out with madcap zaniness here. But does it all work? I’d say yes – to an extent. It requires going with the flow, and not really questioning the unlikely twists. But it is pretty out-there – I struggled in the particularly crazy third act. But if you’re happy to go with it, the film offers a lot to like. Ozon and Piazzo also cleverly weave in a more contemporary theme around how women are perceived, particularly in the media. And Ozon brings his usual polish to the production, aided in no small part by some elegant period design.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz (Only the Animals) gives a charming performance as Madeleine; ably matched by Rebecca Marder (The Godmother) as the smart Pauline. Veteran Fabrice Luchini (The Mystery of Henri Pick) hams it up as the investigating judge, while Michel Fau (Swimming Pool) brings a tougher edge as the prosecutor at Madeleine’s trial. But Isabelle Huppert (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris) casts a long shadow over the film as Odette. She basically swans in half way through and absolutely steals the show.
Even though it’s slight, I enjoyed The Crime is Mine. This film is at times banana-pants wacky, but the goodwill of the enthusiastic cast papers over a lot of plot cracks.
David Edwards
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
