L'amant Double, a sexy thriller film directed by Francois Ozon portrays a film where a fragile young woman named Chloe, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. Everything seemed fine until they move in together and Chloe makes a formidable discovery about her lover concealing a part of his identity. Ozon explores psychoanalysis through a literal approach and the use of graphic visuals. Using Sigmund Freud's ideas that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect are clearly seen within the character of Chloe.
Chloe, who is portrayed by Marine Vacth, is first seen at the gynecologist. She has been suffering from stomach pains and believed it was a health related issue. The gynecologist revealed to her that she was healthy and advised that these may be psychosomatic pains. There she meets her shrink, Doctor Paul Meyer who is portrayed by Jeremie Renier. Throughout their sessions the psychoanalyst does not say much during the sessions, allowing Chloe to talk about her fears and about her mother. The sessions are filmed with a deconstructing camera technique, a technique where different angles are used, using reflections and mirroring techniques in order to show that there is something going on in her psyche.
As the sessions continue, the sweet-natured Paul admits that he has feelings for Chloe. From that point her stomach pains subside and soon moves in together. As Chloe begins to settle in her new apartment, she soon makes a discovery in one of the packed boxes. The box belongs to her lover and discovers that Paul's real last name is DeLord. From this point she begins to realize that she knows nothing about her lovers life. She then confronts Paul about her findings, but rather than getting the closure she was seeking she was only replied with more mystery. As the days progress she discovers that Paul has a twin, named Louis Delord who is also a psychoanalyst. Although they are identical twin, they are the exact opposites. Paul who is kind and passive where as Louis is cruel and assertive, on top of that Paul is left handed and Louis is right.
The movie progresses with Chloe creating love affairs with both Paul and Louis, at one point saying to Louis "When I'm with you, I think about him. When I'm with him, I think about you". As her fetish with the twins progresses her fractured identity becomes more and more visible. The psychoanalytic dimensions arises increasingly when Chloe's psyche becomes too much for her. Her dreams become very realistic as her anxiety increases.
At one point Louis explains to Chloe that in some occasions when twins are in the womb the dominant embryo would absorb the weaker embryo resulting in only one child being birthed, foreshadowing on whats to come. It is made clear that the reality we have been seeing for most of the movie was all in Chloe's head when she goes to visit an old "girlfriend" of Paul, named Sasha. As Chloe goes up stairs we are seen with a staircase directly in the middle of the second floor and the furniture on the left side is identical to the right side, adding to the twin theme. As Sasha looks towards the audience a chill raises down my spine causing myself to freak out by the haunting glare.
Towards the end we discover that Paul actually does not have a twin and Chloe had a cyst in her stomach which had bones and ligaments. That cyst was Chloe's unborn sister, as she was the dominant twin who absorbed "Sasha". Now, the cyst has been surgically removed and the stomach pain she once felt is now gone, which should be the end of her problems. That being said, we are shown Chloe and Paul having sex. In the middle of it she begins to have this blank face as she beams towards the window. There we see her twin walk up to the glass, loudly banging on it shocking not only me but the audience around me. Implying that her psychological problem would still be there to haunt her.
L'amant Double, a film that plays with raw and primal emotions through psychoanalysis. This raunchy and thrilling movie not only shines the trauma that some people that go through this but also brings awareness that mental health is important and is a real issue to look into. The nudity is important in this film, due to revealing the vulnerability of what mental health can cause. A beautiful film that I personally will never forget!
No comments:
Post a Comment