Teenagers
Alice and Luc plan and carry out the murder of Saïd, an Arab
classmate. To dispose of the body, Luc steals his parents’ car
and the pair flee to the country where they drag the body into the
forest and bury it, but lose their way on the return. Disoriented,
hungry and quarrelsome after spending the night in the forest, they
chance upon a hovel and break in to steal some food. The inhabitant,
an ogreish Woodsman, catches them red-handed and throws them into
his cellar, where they find the mutilated body of Saïd. Their
cannibal captor threatens to eat them too, but lets Luc out to fatten
him up and train him to perform sexual favors. One night Luc sneaks
from the Woodsman’s bed and releases Alice from the cellar. The
two escape to the forest where they finally make love, only to be
hunted down by an army of police. Part lovers-on-the-lam action adventure,
part fairy tale, the film parodies both crime caper and romance--and
finally itself. Ozon declares he wasn’t interested in the psychology,
but the story clearly ascribes Alice’s murderous urge to her
repressed desire for the Arab “other” and to her sexual
frustration with Luc who, humiliated by his impotence, also resents
the virile Saïd. A caustic coming-of-age tale.
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| PHOTO Courtesy
of Strand Releasing |
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