Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

One of France's newer and acclaimed directors, Francois Ozon has been the bad boy of French cinema despite his unique approach to subject matters and ideas. Earlier films like Criminal Lovers and Water Drops on Burning Rocks (based on a play by Rainier Werner Fassbinder) showed Ozon's approach on sexuality and power. 2000's Under the Sand starring Charlotte Rampling showed Ozon in his most mature work to date about a woman dealing with the possible death of her husband that showed the director's range in drama. 2002's campy Agatha Christie musical 8 Women which starred the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Beart, Virginie Ledoyen, and Ozon regular Ludivine Sagnier showed his campy approach to musicals and theatricality.

In 2003, Ozon released his sixth feature, Swimming Pool to rave reviews as the film became his most successful date in the international front as it also became an art-house hit in the U.S. since it was Ozon's first English featured that starred Rampling and Sagnier. Though some critics were thinking that Ozon was going into the realm of Hitchcock in the way he approached the mystery of Swimming Pool, the gay French director refused to repeat himself as decided to challenge himself into more conventional subjects like more recently, young death in 2005's Les Tempes Qui Reste (Time to Leave). The year before, Ozon tackled the dissolve of a marriage but told backwards to recall how a couple fell in love in the first place for 5x2.

Written with longtime collaborator Emmanuele Bernheim can be described as a marriage told in the style of Christopher Nolan's Memento where the story is told backwards. In Ozon's approach, it's the story of a couple in their 30s and the five moments in why they're together and how their marriage fell apart which led to their eventual divorce. Starring Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Stephane Freiss, 5x2 is a compelling, rich story as Ozon moves into mature territory.

It's a chilling day as Marion (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stephane Freiss) are finalizing everything about their divorce. Interviewed in front of a judge (Jean-Pol Brissart) where they discuss the terms of the divorce and joint-custody rules. Marion and Gilles are satisfied where for their last day together, they go to a hotel room. They have sex which Marion starts to resist and things get rough, it's clear that their marriage is over and that there is no future. For Marion, it's hard to believe since her own parents can't stand each other yet they're still together as Gilles wonders if they was another chance to work all of this out.

In a few years before their dissolution, Marion and Gilles were still together with their young son Nicolas (Yannis Belkacem) who is taken to sleep for the night as Gilles invites his brother Christophe (Antoine Chappey) and his new, young boyfriend Matheiu (Marc Ruchmann). Gilles notices that Christophe doesn't mind for the young Matheiu to sleep with other men since they don't believe the idea of monogamy as Marion reveals a secret about a party that she and Gilles attended. She reveals a shocking discovery of Gilles participating in an orgy and her take on it which revealed a shock to Christophe. The night become more uncomfortable after Christophe and Matheiu left as Gilles becomes very uncomfortable in his brother's take on love.

On the day that Nicolas was to be born, Marion goes to the hospital for a check-up on her pregnancy when it was revealed that the placenta was blocking the baby for its growth. A caesarian birth had to be taken as Marion calls Gilles to come to the hospital but Gilles, for some reason, doesn’t show up. Marion's mother Monique (Francoise Fabian) shows up after the birth where the baby is fine but very small and looking fragile as Gilles finally shows up to only see the baby with Monique at his side. His reaction was total shock as he walks out where he bumps into his father-in-law Bernard (Michael Lonsdale). Gilles walks out of the hospital in a numb state as Marion wonders where is he as she sees the often troubled relationship of her own parents.

The day of their wedding becomes a very pleasant event as Marion and Gilles are in total bliss. The reception was also great as everyone around them including Bernard, Monique, and Christophe look in joy at the happy couple. On the wedding night, it was supposed to be even sweeter as Gilles is drunk and then passes out as Marion was hoping for a wonderful night of sex. Disappointed, she walks out regular clothing where she looks at the reception party with her parents dancing very lovingly. She walks to the woods where she encounters an American man (Jason Tavassoli) that night.

During a vacation in Italy, Gilles with his girlfriend Valerie (Geraldine Pailhas) are taking a vacation where arriving to the hotel is Marion, who was a new publicist for the company Gilles is working for. Marion bumps into Gilles and Valerie where Marion was supposed to go on a trip to Senegal with a friend but her friend backed out at the last minute. She took the trip to Italy but arrived late on the plane as she spends most of her days alone or feeling one too many for Gilles and Valerie. Still, the attraction is made as Gilles and Marion where they engage in their first moments of their doomed romance.

Previous films that Ozon did explore in the subjects of teen angst, sexuality, murder, and greed are often done with his own unique taste. For the world of marriage and divorce, Ozon takes a cynical yet psychological view on its subject by doing something very unconventional where he tells a doomed love story backwards. At first, it might seem like a gimmick in the way Christopher Nolan's Memento was but Ozon is more subtle and restrained in his take. Once the film starts, Ozon definitely subverts the audiences' expectations of what they will come and the way the film ends only opens up more interpretations. In interviews, Ozon says part of the film's inspiration was from Ingmar Bergman's film Scenes from a Marriage which too, has a cynical view of marriage.

While Ozon's fluid, observant directing style is done with great subtlety and restraint. It's the screenplay that proves Ozon's talents as a storyteller where he takes the structure of five segments and takes it time under 20 minutes for each of them. It's each segment where many of the film's plot is revealed but only in an elliptical style where he wanted the audience to see what's going on and form their own opinions. While Marion and Gilles might seem like the people they were in the beginning of the film, it's in the scenes that follows that reveals their own flaws and development that forces the audience to re-think everything they see and give their own interpretation. The last segment in where Marion and Gilles gets together where if its told in a more traditional, conventional way, it seems much happier but Ozon goes for a far more ambiguous ending where it works as a film.

Helping Ozon in his visual style is longtime cinematographer Yorick le Saux whose lighting for many of the film’s interiors are all exquisitely beautifully. Notably, the wedding reception scene which features some amazing interior lighting while the exterior in that sequences is also great for its lack of light and atmosphere. Production designer Katia Wyszkop does great work in many of the film's different designs and locations where the wedding reception scene is wonderfully lush and breathtaking while the scenes early in the film showed the belongings of its characters. Longtime costume designer Pascaline Chavanne does wonderful work to the clothes of its characters, notably the look for Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. Editor Monica Coleman does some great editing in giving out long shots for some scenes and using fade-outs to make the audience aware of the structure. The sound work of Jean-Pierre Duret, Benoit Hillebrant, and Jean-Pierre Laforce is also excellent for presenting the film's atmosphere in many of its sequences.

The music of longtime collaborator Philippe Rombi works to convey the film's melancholia while most of the music is heightened by its soundtrack. Using Italian pop ballads to segue into each segment while tracks ranging from techno, pop, and oldies like the Platters' Smoke In Your Eyes are heard.

The film's cast features some memorable yet small performances from Jean-Pol Brissart as the judge and Yannis Belkacem as the couples' son Nicolas. Marc Ruchmann is excellent as Christophe's young lover Matheiu while American actor Jason Tavassoli is wonderful as the American who flirts with Marion. Francoise Fabian is excellent as Marion's domineering mother as is Antoine Chappey as Gilles' cynical, gay brother Christophe. Geraldine Pailhas is amazing as Gilles' first girlfriend who brings a contrasting difference to the more youthful Marion. Michael Lonsdale, who film buffs might remember him as Hugh Drax in the James Bond film Moonraker, is amazing as Marion's caring, quiet father.

Stephane Freiss gives a great performance as Gilles where he starts as a bitter, cold man whose joy is shattered in the years of marriage. Freiss pulls off all the right reactions and emotions to a role of a man who might seem like an unlikeable person but is one who is troubled by everything around him where early in his marriage, he seems happier. The best performance of the film is easily Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi as Marion who starts off as a bitter but strong woman wanting to move on where her motivation is clear once the film starts to devolve into the stages of her life. In scenes where she looks a younger version of Ozon's longtime muse Ludivine Sagnier and a young Virginia Madsen, Bruni-Tedeschi brings a lot of complexity to her role as a woman who in the beginning might have this idealism of love only to gain a sense of cynicism.

The Region 1 DVD from Thinkfilm and Lions Gate shows the film in a wonderful widescreen format with an excellent 5.1 Dolby Digital sound in French with English subtitles. While the DVD is more superior to what Focus Feature had done for his previous feature, Swimming Pool, they both leave fans wanting for more. The special features of 5x2 includes preview trailers for other films like Kontrol, an auditions feature, a making-of special, lighting tests, and deleted scenes. The auditions feature done in late 2002 features Stephane Freiss and a dark-haired Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi acting out a scene from a movie not by Ozon but from another film. The audition revealed the strong chemistry Freiss and Bruni-Tedeschi had while the two looked relaxed and having fun at the same time. The lighting test is a one-minute clip of Ozon photographing his actors to get the right light as the two were looking very comfortable.

The 16-minute making-of featurette is really the making of the wedding scene which reveals more of Ozon's working style. While Ozon, like most directors, uses monitors, he also goes behind the camera looking for the right shots as he directing his stand-ins to dance the waltz with music in the background. This special shows how talented Ozon is as director as he can direct two to many more while trying to get the timing right and the actors to feel comfortable as the scene shows how much fun they were having. It's a true delight for fans of the director.

The 18-minute deleted scenes section reveals five clips that got cut from the film where it was obviously for pacing issues or plot reasons. The first is a prologue sequence of Marion waking up in her apartment with Gilles sleeping as he wakes up which leads to the two to make love and then cuts to the first scene of the film. The second scene involves an extended party sequence with Christophe where Gilles reveals his depression and his unemployed status. The third deleted scene is an extended sequence that involves Marion's encounter with the American which opens up more interpretation to the audience. The fourth deleted scene is the first meeting of Marion and Gilles in an office which shows more of Marion's youthful energy as opposed to the relaxed behavior of Gilles. The final scene is merely an outtake of Marion doing synchronized swimming which is really one of the funniest outtakes of the film.

While the Region 1 DVD is great, the Region 2 special French 2-DVD edition contains more features. One is a Venice Film Festival feature, where Bruni-Tedeschi won a Best Actress prize, and audio commentary from Francois Ozon himself, in French obviously. On that DVD includes a different version of the film called 2x5 which Ozon shows the film in its exact, chronological order with some re-editing and new perspective that's only available in France. While American fans might want the Region 1 DVD, they'll have to pay a lot more the Region 2 French version.

While not as accessible as Swimming Pool, 5x2 is still a mature yet cerebral film from Francois Ozon thanks to his observant, subtle directing and the performances of Stephane Freiss and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. While more mainstream, American filmgoers might have a hard time in Ozon's unconventional style. The film's backward take does succeed in leaving its audience to interpret things as it proved to be his most cerebral and provocative feature since 2000's Under the Sand. For fans of the director, the film proves that Ozon is moving away from the exuberance of his earlier work to explore more themes as he becomes more prolific. Still, for anyone wanting to have a realistic yet intelligent take on marriage, 5x2 is a film worth checking out.

Francois Ozon Reviews:

See the Sea (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_140494409348

A Summer Dress (1997):

(Coming Soon)

Sitcom (1998)

(Coming Soon)

Criminal Lovers (1999):

http://www.epinions.com/content_140499586692

X2000 (2000):

(Coming Soon)

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000):

http://www.epinions.com/content_137746419332

Under the Sand (2000):

http://www.epinions.com/content_140736499332

8 Women (2002):

http://www.epinions.com/content_129237159556

Swimming Pool (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_135739575940

Time to Leave (2005):

http://www.epinions.com/content_287590551172

A Curtain Raiser (2006)

(Coming Soon)

Angel (2007):

(Coming in 2007)



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age