Comparisons have often been made of 5x2 with Memento. I would tend to take a simpler view, that it is just the good old Merlin style of living one's life backwards. Rather than reflecting certain technique in making motion picture, 5x2 really lets you experience Merlin's existence of remembering the future and looking forward to the past.
A short 90-minute film in 5 approximately equal segments, tracing backwards the relationship between Marion (Valeria Bruni Tetdschi) and Gilles (Stephane Freiss), their divorce, a small domestic party, childbirth, marriage and first encounter, 5x2 is a very un-Ozon film. The simplicity of narration and filming leaves you wondering if it is really from the same director of "8 Women" and "Swimming Pool".
If we follow the events chronologically (in reverse order of the way they are actually presented in the film) we may notice that it actually starts with two breaking/broken relationships: Gilles just about at the end of a 4-year endurance test in a relationship that probably should never have started, and Marion adjusting to being single again after recently breaking up with her boyfriend. The story also ends (at the beginning of the film) with a broken relationship: the divorce.
In between, Ozon has left everything delightfully open: Was the child the cause or deterrent of the breakup? Was Gilles brother's homosexual relationship really better than his own marital relationship? Was there a hidden reason for Gilles to stay away from the hospital? How much has Marion been influenced by the stormy relationship between her parents? Was it rape or adultery at Marion's wedding night? These are but only a few of the many questions not meant to be answers in the film.
5x2 is best watched with an absolutely open mind, with no specific expectations, and certainly no pre-conceived ideas. Then you may be able to see more, such as the small but intriguing sub-plot of the relationship between Marion's parents which in a way runs parallel to the two main characters', and yet has a distinct flavor of its own.
Acting is superb, from Tedeschi and Freiss to the parents, the brother and his dashing young boyfriend. Leaving out those who look for explosion, car-chase and sex (which 5x2 has, but certainly not to woo the mass audience), "serious" movie goers will not find 5x2 particularly emotionally elating or intellectually stimulating. Yet, they should not come out of it feeling empty-handed (in a manner of speaking), even if it's just for the acting, but hopefully for more.
A short 90-minute film in 5 approximately equal segments, tracing backwards the relationship between Marion (Valeria Bruni Tetdschi) and Gilles (Stephane Freiss), their divorce, a small domestic party, childbirth, marriage and first encounter, 5x2 is a very un-Ozon film. The simplicity of narration and filming leaves you wondering if it is really from the same director of "8 Women" and "Swimming Pool".
If we follow the events chronologically (in reverse order of the way they are actually presented in the film) we may notice that it actually starts with two breaking/broken relationships: Gilles just about at the end of a 4-year endurance test in a relationship that probably should never have started, and Marion adjusting to being single again after recently breaking up with her boyfriend. The story also ends (at the beginning of the film) with a broken relationship: the divorce.
In between, Ozon has left everything delightfully open: Was the child the cause or deterrent of the breakup? Was Gilles brother's homosexual relationship really better than his own marital relationship? Was there a hidden reason for Gilles to stay away from the hospital? How much has Marion been influenced by the stormy relationship between her parents? Was it rape or adultery at Marion's wedding night? These are but only a few of the many questions not meant to be answers in the film.
5x2 is best watched with an absolutely open mind, with no specific expectations, and certainly no pre-conceived ideas. Then you may be able to see more, such as the small but intriguing sub-plot of the relationship between Marion's parents which in a way runs parallel to the two main characters', and yet has a distinct flavor of its own.
Acting is superb, from Tedeschi and Freiss to the parents, the brother and his dashing young boyfriend. Leaving out those who look for explosion, car-chase and sex (which 5x2 has, but certainly not to woo the mass audience), "serious" movie goers will not find 5x2 particularly emotionally elating or intellectually stimulating. Yet, they should not come out of it feeling empty-handed (in a manner of speaking), even if it's just for the acting, but hopefully for more.