Wonderful character development!

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Boring

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is completely a waste of time. Not even sentimental but obviously bad. Gitsch, cliché in a very bad interpretation! The Schauspielerin is a catastrophe, the french film culture's shame, at least choose an other language! Ohh! Why did i watched it?! This is completely a waste of time. Not even sentimental but obviously bad. Gitsch, cliché in a very bad interpretation! The Schauspielerin is a catastrophe, the french film culture's shame, at least choose an other language! Ohh! Why did i watched it?! This is completely a waste of time. Not even sentimental but obviously bad. Gitsch, cliché in a very bad interpretation! The Schauspielerin is a catastrophe, the french film culture's shame, at least choose an other language! Ohh! Why did i watched it?! This is completely a waste of time. Not even sentimental but obviously bad. Gitsch, cliché in a very bad interpretation! The Schauspielerin is a catastrophe, the french film culture's shame, at least choose an other language! Ohh! Why did i watched it?! This is completely a waste of time. Not even sentimental but obviously bad. Gitsch, cliché in a very bad interpretation! The Schauspielerin is a catastrophe, the french film culture's shame, at least choose an other language! Ohh! Why did i watched it?!

This movie left me really thinking and intrigued. With the final scene of the happy couple entering the sea, you can only remain shocked at how something so beautiful could go so terribly wrong. The answers become more and more clear with each phase of their relationship, the 5 key phases of being two, as the director viewed it. Watching it again I can only notice how every detail is very carefully thought and adds up something more about the nature of the characters and the holes crumbling their relationship. Going backwards from present to past through the phases of Marion and Giles' relation, from the divorce scene to the bright scene of the sea, the movie gets the viewer surprised and curious to discover what stands behind this painful failure. However, instead of leaving a bitter taste if all was chronological, the final contrast between what one sees and what one knows that happened is much more surprising and raises much more questions.The beginning shows the painful end of Marion and Giles' marriage, how incredibly much they grew apart. They talk about things, and we can see the complex resentments, maybe even hatreds, that have grown up between them. Gilles seems incredibly insecure and frustrated, while Marion looks patient and resigned , but actually unburdened to get away from their disintegrating relation. Then as the film moves backward starting from the divorce scene there are several moments that show what went terribly wrong...the mistakes and faults each of them had made.First comes the shocking confession Gilles makes in front of his brother and his boyfriend about the orgy he had joined, under the very eyes of his wife. The courage to do that and then the courage to tell the story in front of the other 3 looked so unbelievable, still they show the selfishness and hidden desires in Giles that were tearing their relationship. What I also found interesting in this scene is that the director doesn't actually see infidelity as a necessary cause of the problems. In the case of Giles'brother and his boyfriend trust, warmth and an open heart actually seem more important, and they're exactly the things that miss from Giles and Marion's relationship.Then the day of their son's birth, Marion lies in the maternity ward, suffering, while Gilles stands outside smoking, afraid to face the reality of what is going on. Then, aware of his cowardice, makes excuses for not coming to see his wife.Then his selfishness comes out again in the next scene, their wedding night. He falls asleep on the bed with little care, apparently half-drunk, while Marion was preparing for them to spend the night together. Marion resigns herself and goes outside for a walk, but in the night she meets a handsome American. The meeting though polite first almost turns into a rape, but though she could have avoided anything happening she gives in, without strength to control her desires.After this scene the holes in their relation came out strikingly. It becomes apparent how each of them suffers from their own form of selfishness, of being coward. They're both incapable of fidelity, of giving themselves to the other with whole heart cause they're filled by doubt, by hidden desires, by insecurity. The beginning of their relationship brings out even more clear all these fears. Marion is just coming out of a failed relationship and looking for affection, and Giles seems attracted by her insecurity and sweetness, because he was starting to feel insecure too with his partner. Both insecure and not ready to commit, but at the same time fearing to be alone, the very beginning of their relation seemed to start on the wrong foot.Looking at the whole movie, it seems that what never worked in their relation was communication. Loving each other in their own selfish way, they are unable to be honest about their own faults and desires and unable to commit, fearing they won't get the same in return, while the space between them grows permanently. After seeing the movie what intrigued me most was why each of them had become the way he was. What made them so unable to commit, him so selfish and her so patient and undetermined. Maybe the combination of their characters just brought out all their faults, maybe it was simply in their nature.I think "5x2" manages to emphasize the key details which finally lead to a failed relationship in this story of a marriage that looks so painfully real. The depth of the characters and the realism of the plot made it for me one movie worth watching and remembering.

The film 5 X 2 is a series of troubling scenes from a marriage, told in reverse order. It moves from a rather passionless, but painful divorce proceeding, through some violent goodbye sex, a plea for reconciliation by the former husband, all the way to the moment that they fell in love. Between those extremes they were never very good to each other for any length of time. The husband, Gilles, being aggressively cruel, while the wife, Marion, is passively cruel to her spouse. The motives and motivations behind these actions are never significantly explained and the viewer is left to fill in the blank spaces.Being puzzled by the ambiguity of some of the events in the film (Just Like Swimming Pool), I went to the deleted scenes and found a prologue that was not included in the final cut of the film. The scene implies that the couple at some point reconcile and are again living together. Marion awakes and moves about the home that is piled with moving boxes. She goes to one box and removes a book "Histoire d'O" (The Story of O) and a scarf. For those who are unaware, this a book about sadomasochism/dominance and submission, and a woman's experiences with it. Reading a bit of the book, she puts it down and goes to make coffee. She later re-enters the room, finds Gilles reading the same book, sneaks up behind him and blindfolds him with the scarf, while kissing him. Gilles removes the scarf and uses it to bind her hands behind her. They begin the preliminaries of lovemaking but part instead. They end up laying side by side, looking at their surroundings, glancing at one another.This scene implies that the individuals have made personal growth and had come to recognize that their previous marriage had been based on dominance and submission and neither of them wished to return to the sadomasochistic relationship of their past. It also implies, as they both look about, neither of them really have any idea where to begin, if this is not to be the nature of their new relationship. Of course, knowing what you don't want is a start of sorts. It's a great scene, quiet, somber and reflective. More importantly, it is hopeful. Hopeful, that even damaged people can learn and grow. It's too bad that it did not make the final cut of the film. What we do have in the film is probably more realistic--all too often love ends--but hopefully we do take something better to our next beginning. The final scene in 5 x 2 reminds each of us just how beautiful love can be. It is worth a viewing for that reason alone.

I'm a big fan of French director François Ozon, and every film he releases automatically becomes a must see for me. 5x2 is the story of a relationship told backwards in five stages, from the divorce proceedings to the initial meeting between a couple. Given the way that this story plays out, it's clear that 5x2 isn't exactly a romantic film; as we always know that the relationship is leading into oblivion. The main talking point of this movie is the fact that the story plays out backwards. This type of plot has been used with great success in films like Memento, but despite being seen before; Ozon makes good use of his plotting, and it provides a refreshing take on the common romantic film. There isn't really a plot to speak of, and the focus is kept on the central relationship between the husband and wife. This ensures that Ozon is allowed to develop his characters without being bogged down by plot details, and it ultimately benefits the film as it's potency all rests with the characters of Marion and Giles, both of which are played to perfection by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Stéphane Freiss.A film like this asks a lot of the performers, and as he's done several times before; Ozon ensures that both are up to the task, and he manages to pull great performances out of both the lead stars. The pair goes through a range of emotions, from happiness to hope and down to despair as the relationship falls apart. These days, it's more common for couples to split up; and this ensures that 5x2 is almost like Casablanca for the modern age. It's a very cynical film, but Ozon is not wrong in his depiction of a doomed relationship. The film is made more complicated by the inclusion of a child between the couple, but as each of the five sections of the film is relatively short in length, not everything is able to be explored and this is the film's main flaw. 5x2 is very French in its style and execution, and it's obvious that the director loves his home country. François Ozon is obviously gay (looking at the rest of his filmography), and even though this film is about a heterosexual relationship, the way that a gay couple is incorporated into the proceedings is very ham-fisted, and doesn't really fit. Still, this is a good film about the destruction of a relationship and overall, a success for the talented director.