Revisit: Love Me If You Dare

A Paramount Classics release 2003

Directed by
Yann Samuell

Writing credits
Jacky Cukier
Yann Samuell

As adults, best friends Julien (Guillaume Canet) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard) continue the odd game they started as children -- a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another's pain, their game might be a way to avoid the fact that they are truly meant for one another.



While at times wonderful to look at, Love Me If You Dare suffers from that sort of French cinematic whimsy that starts off sweet but ends in a dizzy spell. The protagonists are two of the most mean-spirited characters I've ever seen, and the events in their life represent nothing grounded in reality or truth. Rather, the film is carried along by this sort of lovesick current, a strand of illogical, emotionally driven beats. The effect makes certain scenes hard to swallow, while others seem fatastic and otherworldly. Not for the cynical or the black-hearted.