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 Ah,
l'amour! Valentine's Day is here, and love is in the air--especially
at the movies!
It sucks, doesn't it? Well, it does if you're single, and if
you've been praying for an engaging cinematic diversion to counter-balance
the arrival of sickly-sweet romantic comedies like How to Lose
a Guy in 10 Days and Deliver Us From Eva, then viola!
Your prayers have been answered. Not only does the French import
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not effectively shoot an arrow
right through cupid's beating heart, but it does so by being an
incredibly clever, rewarding and absorbing cinematic experience.
Angelique (Audrey Tautou) is a love-struck young artist who sees
the world through rose-colored glasses, especially when it comes
to her love for Loic (Samuel Le Bihan), a successful cardiologist
who, unfortunately for her, just so happens to be married. She
feels that Loic will eventually leave his pregnant wife for her,
since he appears to be just as smitten with her as she is of him.
Or is he? While Angelique is busy preparing for her bright, long
future with the man of her dreams, the story as told from Loic's
perspective reveals a completely different nightmare.
"Nothing is what it seems " may have been the tagline
for the recent Al Pacino-Colin Farrell misfire The Recruit,
but it's much more applicable to the premise found in He Loves
Me, He Loves Me Not. From the outset, moviegoers are duped
into thinking that they're in for another dose of Amelie,
2001's cute, sharp romantic comedy starring adorable French ingenue
Audrey Tautou. As it is, when we first see the vibrant, gleaming
Tautou peering through a bed of roses with her big brown eyes,
the movie sure seems like it's headed in that direction. Then
it takes an abrupt, dark--and totally unexpected--turn, and suddenly,
the girl from Amelie isn't so cute anymore.
Without revealing key plot points and the movie's best kept secret,
let's just say that Tautou deserves a lot of credit for taking
chances with her sweet, charming, captivating image and turning
it on its proverbial ear. Comparisons are bound to be made between
her performance here and the jilted lover played by Glenn Close
in Fatal Attraction, but He Loves Me also borrows
elements from The Crush, He Said, She Said, and even a
little bit of The Sixth Sense (how's that for a pitch?).
The story is told in three parts; the first from her point of
view, and the second from his point of view. The final third is
where the film converges, but pay close attention. Everything
that happens in the first 40 minutes--every frame, every action,
every reaction, every plot point and every bit of (subtitled)
dialogue--has a direct bearing to what happens in the rest of
the movie. At first, you get the impression that something isn't
quite right, but when the story flashes back to reveal Loic's
perspective (in a harrowing display of meltdown and paranoia by
Samuel Le Bihan), you can't help but sit up, take notice, and
realize that something quite extraordinary is going on.
There are two sides to every story, and in this case, both sides
are riveting, especially when the illusion gives way to reality.
The illusion here is that moviegoers are in for a cute romantic
comedy, but the reality is that writer/director Laetitia Colombani
has concocted a dark psychological thriller that will blow your
mind and may even require a second viewing. Sure, the film can
be far-fetched at times, but regardless, He Loves Me, He Loves
Me Not is the French equivalent of a guilty pleasure that
also qualifies as the first truly exceptional movie of 2003.
To that extent, I guess Valentine's Day isn't so bad after all.
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