5x2

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Ozon's greatest special effect is holding the camera in tight on the faces of Bruni-Tedeschi (one of the most expressive faces in French cinema) and Freiss.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

A sort of anti-date movie, a smart but deeply cynical study in failure, with our sense of loss growing in direct proportion to the characters' romantic hopes.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Unlike "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind," which holds the memories of a doomed affair as precious, there's nothing bittersweet about Ozon's failed romance, but its problems are equally true.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Plays a little like a mystery, the central question of which is not whodunit but why.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

When you piece it all together, it becomes mildly fascinating.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Compellingly acted and rich in visual ideas, but a bit thin in its psychological approach.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

5x2 is a little talky and the pace is slow, but, for this kind of motion picture, it's one of the best around.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

Excellent perfs and writer-director Francois Ozon's sure, unfussy way with the camera add up to a viewing experience whose richness depends in large part on how much the viewer reads into the human templates on display.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Deceptively placid and subtly unpredictable drama.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

You can make a good movie about a bad marriage, as countless directors, the latest being Ozon, have discovered.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Austere and formally complex, the drama may nevertheless be Ozon's most accessible film due to the physical attractiveness and vitality of the intelligent couple.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Feminist sanctimony, it turns out, looks much the same forward and backward.

New York Post Kyle Smith

France's François Ozon's 5 x 2, which resembles Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" told in reverse, could be played for laughs, or suspense -- who killed this marriage? -- or with the rueful irony of Stephen Sondheim's backward musical "Merrily We Roll Along."

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Cool, clinical and not altogether convincing.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

In 5 x 2, the 2 are terrific; it's the 5 that needs work.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It flirts intriguingly with the unknowable, what it shows us of the knowable isn't terribly interesting.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A wickedly entertaining bit of domestic tragedy.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

In the end I respected 5x2 more than I loved it. As we move backward in time, the distance between audience and characters inevitably widens -- we know what's going to happen and they don't -- and I found the effect a little astringent.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

There’s precious little character development forward or backward.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Bruni-Tedeschi is a lovely actress, and whatever emotion is evident onscreen comes courtesy of her.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The film is bleak, not particularly compelling, and the characters are frustrating, the enemies of their own happiness.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Told in the usual sequence, the story of Gilles and Marion would be a banal bell curve of infatuation, bliss, boredom, regret and recrimination. As it is, 5x2 does not quite make the case that Gilles and Marion are entirely worth our interest, let alone our sympathy, but the reversal of narrative order gives their ordinary moments together a faint aura of mystery, as Mr. Ozon teases us with the conceit that it will all make sense in the end - or rather, the beginning.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Ozon's take on this marriage in particular is notable – apart from Freiss and Bruni-Tedeschi's bracing performances – for his unwillingness to let things spiral out of complete control.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

For anyone who believes in the gorgeously messy truth of French social drama, it's a grave disappointment.