Criminal Lovers

Criminal Lovers (1999, Francois Ozon)
Superficially similar to "Badlands" and "Bonnie & Clyde" but stylistically closer to the gleeful depravity of John Waters. I have only seen one Ozon movie prior to this, the slight, touching "Time to Leave," and from what I gather part of Ozon's shtick is how he effortlessly jumps from style to style; his "5x2" is apparently told in reverse, and here he skillfully tackles another kind of narrative ingenuity in having the lead-up to their opening murder told in snippets, after they become makeshift prisoners to a forest-dweller possibly intent on administering his own brand of justice. You couldn't call "Criminal Lovers" a satire the way they do "Natural Born Killers," but the sensibility it has is decidedly over-the-top -- certain gestures and facial expressions will be accompanied by a dramatic swell of the score, and some scenes that would be considered serious elsewhere -- sex, escape -- are played triumphantly. The fable aspect of the film brought to mind some of the cartooniness of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Ozon has a definite talent for mounting tension, and for the playful mix of repulsion and erotica.