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For some reason, I seem to have seen quite a few of Fran?ɬßois Ozon’s films. 5×2 was the first I managed to see in the theatre. I enjoyed it. It was a bit slow, but all of his films are; he lets his actors and the characters they play shine that way. The performances were very good. Despite this being five scenes about two people, however, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi as Marion seemed to be the main character.

Ozon uses the “backwards” gimmick here - the scenes (which were kind of like five short films) are shown from last to first. The first of the five scenes shows a couple finalizing the details of their divorce. The first scene shows them at the beginning of showing romantic interest towards each other. He continues his style of using a lot of dialogue as his main technique for furthering the story. Despite the reflex to say “that’s lame”, it actually works. I found myself more interested in what happened before than I usually am about what’s going to happen next. But then again, since I’m seeing it later, I gues it does actually happen next, in a way. Uh oh, I’m talking in circles.

The latest from Fran?ɬßois Ozon, Le Temps qui reste, is one of the films that I am considering screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, which starts next week. It’ll be my first time there, and I’m excited!