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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Criminal Lovers
Strand Releasing


9.0

based on 13 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 1 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Natacha Régnier, Jérémie Renier, Miki Manojlovic, Salim Kechiouche, and Yasmine Belmadi

A grisly story in which teenager Alice convinces her boyfriend Luc to kill the man who orchestrated her rape. The two become lost while disposing of the body in the woods and fall into the hands of a hermit who takes them captive.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	François Ozon
DIRECTED BY:	François Ozon
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 14, 2001 Video: August 14, 2001 Theatrical: July 21, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French (with English subtitles)

Also known as "Les Amants Criminels"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

In Criminal Lovers, the "Bonnie and Clyde" model of killing-as-erotica gets a shrewd, funny, decidedly French workout.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Both the leads are scarily good, and Ozon imbues his troubling tale with jarring blasts of light and the sun-dappled beauty of the natural world.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Has its own sense of logic and integrity that demand a kind of begrudged respect.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

May be as gimmicky as Ozon's other features, but it's also more resonant and even haunting.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Francois Ozon, perhaps France's hottest director of the moment, is often better creating stylish visuals than dramatically credible situations, but Criminal Lovers is never boring.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

"Grimm's Fairy Tales" were pretty grim, but Criminal Lovers crosses the line and sexualizes your worst fears.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Imagine "Hansel and Gretel" by way of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Such an amalgam of fairy tales, old movies and tabloid stories that it never develops a life of its own.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

At once arch, derivative, and, in the end, bizarrely lyrical.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a passionate vision thick with eroticism, but the musky atmosphere gets a little thick and murky.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Straddles a number of genres -- horror film, lovers on the lam, fairy tale -- and gives them all a cool, knowing spin.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Its eventual failure to make sense indicates that it's intended more as a surrealistic fable than an ordinary sex-and-violence adventure.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This remains the one and only fusion of ''Deliverance'' and ''Hansel and Gretel'' that I ever hope to see.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Edward R. gave it a9:
This is a great movie. Completely unpredictable, thoroughly mesmerizing, jam-packed with homages and metaphors, and highly sexual. Francois Ozon shows his French brilliance.

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Criminal Lovers Strand Releasing

Criminal Lovers
Strand Releasing