Film: 5 x 2
Release date: 12th September 2005
Certificate: 15
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi, Stéphane Freiss, Géraldine Pailhas, Françoise Fabian
Genre: Drama/Romance
Studio: UGC
Format: DVD
Country: France
What would be the five defining moments of a great relationship? This is the question explored by François Ozon in his 2005 love story 5 x 2 (Cinq Fois Deux). Five critical moments in a relationship between two people, and how they shape it from its inception to its demise.
The film’s five scenes are presented in reverse order, beginning with Marion (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) at the end of their relationship going through the ugly motions of divorce, and then proceeding back to a hotel room for an even more uncomfortable last sexual liaison before parting for good.
Next we go back to a dinner party with Gilles’ brother and his male partner, where the guests reveal secrets of their past infidelities, and where Marion and Gilles’ son is a toddler. Then at hospital for the birth of their son (for which Gilles is notably absent). Then the night of their wedding, and finally the moment on a summer holiday when the relationship first begins.
Playing the story out in reverse is a technique we’ve seen used before in Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible and Christopher Nolan’s Hollywood hit Momento, and it’s particularly effective here. When we first join the characters, we are not yet emotionally invested in them and so observe the relationship impassively. We see the years of compounded bitterness and regret in their body language, and wonder how this couple who clearly still care for each other could ever have reached this stage? It’s this curiosity on our part that is the strength of the film. Over the course of the 90 minutes we learn exactly where and when the seeds of doubt and mistrust have been planted, and how they’ve grown and eroded over the years until that first (final) scene.
While the scenes are reversed, the dynamic of the action remains fairly straightforward - the film playing on the fact that often the most tumultuous events in a relationship are those at the beginning. Telling the story backwards gives us a sombre beginning, a turbulent middle and builds to an elated finish as the couple first meet and marry. The later scenes (detailing the beginning of their relationship) also carry an added weight because we’re privy to the knowledge of how they’ll eventually play out. They say that hindsight would be a wonderful gift to have at the time, well in 5 x 2 the audience is granted that gift.
The two leads are superb, with Stéphane Freiss completely believable as the arrogant, controlling Gilles, mesmerising as he recounts a story of an orgy at a dinner party while his wife squirms in embarrassment next to him. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi‘s performance as Marion is a study in subtlety and a pleasure to watch. In the same scene, her face is a mask of controlled despair, eyes shattering behind an impassive façade as Gilles gleefully recounts the story.
Ozon and Emmanuèle Bernheim’s screenplay is beautifully reserved, the dialogue touching and occasionally brutal, while the surefooted camerawork achieves genuine intimacy without ever feeling intrusive or voyeuristic.
Ozon has commented that the Italian love songs which punctuate the film were chosen for their “over the top sentimentality,” to level out some of the intensity of the storytelling. It’s an effective tool, for although things get pretty dark, there is an omnipotent sense of care and affection woven into every scene. We’re left in no doubt how much Marion and Gilles care deeply for each other, despite the problems they face, and how much Ozon cares for his characters and seems to genuinely lament their inevitable tragedy.
In the final beautiful shot we see Marion and Gilles wading out into the sea, swimming tentatively into unknown waters. Given what we know this has a particularly weighty relevance. Gilles comments, “There are really strong currents,” to which Marion replies, “But it looks so peaceful.” As they disappear into the distance, we know they’re both right.
Some will undoubtedly find the story simply too everyday to be exceptional, but there are hidden depths behind the banal, and on repeat viewing 5 x 2 emerges as a prime example of the kind of insight and intimacy European cinema achieves so effortlessly. By the end, we’re so entrenched in the evolution of the relationship that it’s painful to watch the new love affair as it starts to blossom. Weighted down as we are by the knowledge of what’s to come, the reveal in the third act hits home with the kind of emotional impact Hollywood blockbusters can only dream of. LOZ
