Why I Loved It:

This movie is my number 2 favorite movie of all time. It was a fucking intense ride. It starts off with a friendship between Julien and Sophie, a friendship based on dares. And it grows into a sort of morbid and fucked up love story. They go through their adult life giving each other outrageous dares and dancing around the real issue, whether or not they love each other. As the viewer, you can see that the two love and want each other but they are so immersed in winning and games that you almost feel as if you're watching a trainwreck. At one point in the movie, Sophie says:

The problem is, that... even if you said, "I love you," I wouldn't believe you. Julien, I no longer know when you're playing or not. I'm lost. Wait, I'm not finished. Tell me you love me. Tell me, because if I tell you first, I'm afraid you'll think it's a game. Save me... I beg of you.

Visually, the movie is perfect. It's told in an almost story-book fashion with an amazing color palette. The montages are perfect and there's a memorable one near the end of the movie, where Julien meets up with Sophie and the camera work is fast and frenetic, giving you a sense of urgency as he monologues:

Sophie was back in the game! Pure, raw, explosive pleasure! Better than drugs, better than smack! Better than a dope-coke-crack-fix-shit-shoot-sniff-ganja-marijuana-blotter-acid-ecstasy! Better than sex, head, 69, orgies, masturbation, tantrism, Kama Sutra or Thai doggy-style! Better than banana milkshakes! Better than George Lucas's trilogy, the muppets and 2001! Better than Emma Peel, Marilyn, Lara Croft and Cindy Crawford's beauty mark! Better than the B-side to Abbey Road, Jimmy Hendrix and the first man on the moon! Space Mountain, Santa Claus, Bill Gates' fortune, the Dalai Lama, Lazarus raised from the dead! Schwarzenegger's testosterone shots, Pam Anderson's lips! Woodstock, raves... Better than Sade, Rimbaud, Morrison and Castaneda! Better than freedom, better than life!

This movie was a wild ride and it's hard for me to talk about it without spoiling any major plot points. It's definitely not like any other love story I've watched; in fact, I don't know if I'd even consider it to be a love story, it's more like a story about love.



Warning: This movie is in French so if you don't like subtitles (and you need to start, most of the best movies aren't in English *gasp*) then it's not for you. But grow up. Learn to read the words on the screen, otherwise you're missing out on a lot of good movies.

PS. I found out after I saw this that the two actors (Guillaume and Marion) are actually a couple in real life. Made the pairing that much sweeter.