5X2
Focusing on the failed relationship of a thirtysomething couple, French director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, Under the Sand) organizes this film into five chapters they shared together. In backwards chronology, the first chapter of Marion and Gilles's story has them signing divorce papers, and the last chapter shows the first sparks of romance between them years earlier. A master of controlling his audience's emotions, Ozon elicits vast sympathies for each character, making their relationship - and especially, the problems they cannot live with - more painful with each new detail. Honest to the point of emotional torture, yet compassionate toward his characters, Ozon has constructed a beautifully moving film.