Loversan excellent little-known thriller
Lovers by Nicole Garcia, released in theaters in November 2021 after selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, is one of those films whose screening was partly prevented by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was impossible to enjoy the exhibition of its presentation in Venice in cinemas, which was then released at the end of 2021 – the year in which Titanium by Julia Ducournau e The event by Audrey Diwan triumphs at Cannes and Venice – Lovers comes out at the end of a year in which French cinema has already made itself noticed (The father, Annetta, BAC North, Lost illusions, etc.). The result of the race, despite the predominantly positive reviews in the press, only 252,599 spectators came to see it.
Lisa and Simon have loved each other passionately since adolescence and lead the urban and nightlife of their peers. After an evening that goes badly and ends up in prison for none other than Simon, she decides to escape. Lisa then waits for news from Simon that never arrives. Three years later, in the Indian Ocean, she marries Léo when their destinies cross again…
Exceptional casting for a love triangle
Lovers is a failure in theaters, yet it’s not for lack of having assembled a formidable cast, made up of Pierre Niney, Stacy Martin and Benoît Magimel, to stage a tragic love triangle in three times and three places. Paris, Mauritius and Switzerland, three acts for three destinies, three characters who intersect and only one of whom will emerge (more or less) unscathed.
For Lovers, Nicole Garcia and her co-writer Jacques Fieschi sublimate the basic love triangle template by pushing the sliders to the limit and telling something other than a simple story of love and jealousy. In fact, launched on a fulfilled relationship wrapped in a fragile eroticismthe story ofLovers it ends badly, without sparing anything of the love and of the two couples in the film, Lisa and Simon, then Lisa and Leo. Lovers it’s an impossible love story on the one hand, but on the other it’s also impossible a fable about the power of moneyon social status and the effects of these combinations of factors on women, the object of male desire.
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From who Lovers tell the story ?
First of all, that of the first Parisian act, Lovers East Simone’s story. He lives a passionate and absolute love with Lisa, but his activity as a drug dealer will lead him to a tragedy, and will force him to abandon Lisa, to save her. In fact, if she begins a life of escape, it is not out of selfishness that abandons her, but rather out of altruism so as not to deprive her of the freedom and life to which she aspires.
Secondly, that of the second act on Mauritius, Lovers becomes Lisa’s story. But already her relationship with Léo, who she married, confines her and reduces her and, compared to the first act, she appears more distant, melancholic and elsewhere. By writing the character or playing him by Benoît Magimel, Léo Redler thus occupies all the space and captures all the attention when he is on the screen. Three years after their forced separation, Lisa finds Simon, who works in the hotel where she is staying with Léo. She still loves him and they plan to meet again in Geneva, where she now lives.
In a third and final stage, that of the third act of Geneva, Lovers tell The story of Leo. If Lisa and Simon meet there, and Lisa strangely proposes to come one evening to cook at Léo’s, it is the latter’s world that we discover. His wealth, his power, his ease explode in the eyes of the spectators as well as in those of Simon, who experiences it as a humiliation. Lisa and Simon then plan to kill Léo and then escape, but the latter discovers their plan. Leo then confronts Simon and asks him what he wants in exchange for abandoning this project. Simone then responds: “I wish you didn’t exist“.
A tragedy with unstoppable mechanics
At the end ofLovers, Léo thinks he convinced Simon to abandon his plan to assassinate him, after giving him money. As he tells Lisa: “You think a guy like that can’t be bought?“. Leo does here a double mistake. First believing that Simon is venal, when he first acts with love, and thinking that resorting to money to solve her problems will certainly not disgust Lisa. At this moment Léo loses Lisa and above all he is surprised to see that Simon has finally decided to put his plan into action. Leo then surprises him in his garden and shoots him in cold blood.
Confident of his power and impunity, when the police are there to observe the facts, Léo tells Lisa to say that he didn’t see anything and that he didn’t know Simon. But Lisa gets up, goes into the garden and says: “I know him. His name is Simone.”
Lisa’s release
After a fade to the film’s epilogue, we discover Léo, his face scarred and visibly devastated, speaking through the screens to Lisa’s father. He seems to have become aware of his attitude, admitting “having believed he could have LisaHer father says that since she “got out” – let’s say “from prison” – he hasn’t seen her either, and that she has now.”another lifeThe film ends with Lisa, anonymous but determined in the crowd.
Then we understand – and perhaps too late for much of the public – thisLovers East the story of Lisa’s releaseunder the influence of two men, one who embodies destructive passion and the other the deadly power of money, and who these two characteristics together lead to the same tragedy. Once the mechanics of the drama have been fully completed, Lisa acquires the autonomy that she did not have before her by taking on her responsibilities. However, the film is divided equally into three portraits, all wonderfully composed by charming actors and in full possession of their means – and above all by Benoît Magimel, overwhelming with charisma – its main idea may therefore appear confusing or unreadable to many viewers.
Lovers it’s available playing for free on the France TV platform until March 27, 2024.
Source: Cine Serie
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