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| 1.81:1 DVD capture: 5x2 |
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| The Film |
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Racking up an unorthodox number of short films before tackling his first feature, 1998's lead balloon Sitcom, the prolific François Ozon returns to his roots in a way with 5x2 - Five Times Two (5x2 - Cinq fois deux), a portmanteau in five parts that charts an ill-fated marriage--backwards. As the picture opens, Marion (archetypal Ozon blonde Valérie Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) are being read the terms of their divorce agreement; as the picture closes, the two are prospective lovers sizing each other up on an empty but sun-kissed beach, she portentously warning he of the choppy waters in which they're about to go swimming--a moment I preferred to think of as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ozon's Under the Sand, so starved is 5x2 for levity. Irréversible Lite, the film is less emotionally draining than stultifying, in part because the anthology format does all the heavy-lifting, skipping anything interstitial that might let us form an impression of these characters organically or, moreover, fluidly: sympathies sway back-and-forth between the wife and the husband (though not to the extent that we ever forgive Gilles for raping Marion in the first segment), but never within the same episode, making Ozon just another god from the machine. Bruni-Tadeschi and Freiss, both of whom are in fine form, do seem to miraculously de-age throughout, however, lending the picture some credibility and surface interest.-BC
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The DVD
Seville presents 5x2 on DVD in a 1.81:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Slight motion blurs would seem to indicate a PAL master, though if that's the case, conversion technology has clearly improved since Swimming Pool. The accompanying Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is modest by design but music occasionally swells up into the rear channels. Although the disc contains an untranslated French commentary from writer-director François Ozon, the remaining extras are subtitled and include six deleted scenes (totalling 17 minutes), a fly-on-the-wall documentary, and more. Kicking off the elisions is a difficult-to-contextualize prologue that recalls Eyes Wide Shut's, if for no other reason than its peek-a-boo glimpse of Gillian Anderson look-alike Valérie Bruni-Tedeschi's derrière. Likewise of note is a wisely-ditched post-script to Marion's wedding-night fling that suggests she imagined the whole thing--she's plenty sympathetic without relieving her of all accountability. While it's refreshingly lacking in gloss, "The Making-of the Wedding Reception" (17 mins.) washes out as a dull behind-the-scenes portrait in which extras mill about and umpteen makeup and wardrobe professionals swoop in to primp the stars between snatches of direction from the boyish Ozon. I'm pretty sure the supplement heading "Auditions" (6 mins.) is some garbled translation for "read-through," as Bruni-Tedeschi is pretty well-established (as both an actress and a filmmaker) at this point and she and Stéphane Freiss seem to be rehearsing the vacation scene as opposed to trying it out. Access the disc's content through English or French menus; the jacket art is similarly bilingual/reversible.-Bill Chambers
© Film Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.
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DVD GRADES:
Image B
Sound B+
Extras B |
DVD VITALS:
Running Time
87 minutes
MPAA
R
Aspect Ratio(s)
1.81:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced
Languages
French DD 5.1
CC
No
Subtitles
English (optional)
DVD-9
Region One
Seville
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Published: November 15, 2005
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