Love Crime

Directed by the late Alain Corneau, Love Crime is an inventive, if thinly sketched, psychological thriller that unravels with the precision of a Swiss timepiece. The insular offices and absurd corporate speak of a global agribusiness corporation provide the backdrop for the complicated relationship between Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas, showcasing a flawless French accent), a demanding and ambitious Parisian executive, and her under-the-radar protégé, Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier). Their power imbalance lies at the uneasy heart of the film; outwardly, Isabelle seems uncomfortable with Christine's borderline inappropriate behavior, but a few chinks in the armor of her studied repression suggest she secretly welcomes the attention. Christine's insistence on Isabelle's inclusion on a last-minute trip to Cairo proves to be the tipping point of their high-wire act, and, as the story slowly transforms into a cerebral game of carefully plotted one-upmanship and sociopathic strategy, Isabelle proves herself a deceptively worthy adversary to her manipulative employer. The succinct title of Love Crime neatly encapsulates the tension-filled dynamic that permeates the movie, which halfway through shifts gears from corporate rivalry to murder mystery. With the depth of her long con mirrored in her blank, unyielding stare, Isabelle emerges as both victim and aggressor in a film that isn't sure there's much of a difference between the two.