Two people, five moments from a marriage told in reverse: there's a neat simplicity to François Ozon's chamber piece that promises but doesn't deliver great insight into modern relationships. Beginning with Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) and Marion (Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi) as they sign their divorce papers then 'backtracking' back to key moments in their life together, Ozon's film is a slyly ironic take on affairs of the heart. Like Irreversible - but without the jolts - it's proof that time does indeed destroy all things.
The alternate title of 5x2 is "Or How To Live With Someone Else", which is a curious choice since Ozon's film never tells us how to live with anyone else at all. Instead of offering insight, it simply observes this mismatched couple as their relationship flounders. Gilles fails to turn up for the birth of his first child, Marion cheats on him on their wedding night. Characters chatter without ever really saying anything and argue without ever knowing what's wrong. Like life, it's a film full of unanswered questions and uncertain motivations.
"COULD ALL BE A CUNNING JOKE"
As things go from bad to better and Ozon rewinds to the moment when this warring couple fell in love, there's a sense that this could all be a cunning joke. "I don't believe in fidelity, it's not natural", claims one of the couple's gay friends, prompting Gilles to tell a story about partaking in a bisexual orgy. Is he a closet case? Or is Ozon just thumbing his nose at the straight world's belief in happily every after?
In French with English subtitles.
5x2 (Cinq Fois Deux) (2005)
