Therese (Olsen) has been raised by her aunt (Lange), sharing a bed with her sickly cousin Camille (Felton). When she's of age, she is of course expected to marry Camille, and all three move to Paris to open a shop. There she meets Camille's old friend Laurent (Isaac), who sparks her lusty longings in ways Camille couldn't, even if he tried. But Laurent and Therese know that they can only be together if Camille is dead, so they hatch a plan. And what happens from here isn't what either of them expect.

While the script is a bit stagey and melodramatic, the actors make the most of it, drawing out internalised feelings underneath stiff propriety. Olsen and Isaac even manage to generate some heat, while Felton somehow makes us sympathise with the wheezy Camille. Lange gets the showiest role, as the over-reacting matriarch. And an oddball supporting cast adds random colour here and there. Otherwise, there isn't much colour on the screen at all.

Production designer Uli Hanisch washes everything in dark greys and browns, then swamps every set in drab shadows. There isn't an inviting street, room or shop, and even an outing into the sunny outdoors is shrouded in menacing gloom. Eventually, this overwhelming murkiness infects the characters as well, leaving everyone so deeply unlikeable that it's impossible to care what happens to them. Which is a problem because the story is essentially a morality play reminding us to be careful what we wish for.

Of course Zola's resilient premise has been turned into a movie staple from Double Indemnity to The Postman Aways Rings Twice to Body Heat. Filmmaker Stratton does attempt to find new and interesting angles, but in the end the most memorable moments are hilariously camp one-liners ("I have a touch of the vapours!") or histrionic tantrums. Even the film's final scenes, which slide into psychological thriller territory, feel faintly ridiculous. Although the resilient plot can't help but be darkly moving.

themes, violence, sexuality

12.May.14