The Crime is Mine (Mon Crime)  (15) |Close-Up Film Review

Francois Ozon is a gay man who openly adores women and creates really good parts for actresses in his films.   This is but one of them.   Based on a 1934 play by Olivier Brocheand and set in Paris in the 30s, it’s light, delightful, stylish and witty with a feminist undertone in tune with contemporary gender politics, inserted by Ozon himself.

Madeleine (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) an out of work actress and her best friend Pauline (Rebecca Marder), a recently graduated lawyer with no clients, are living in poverty in a grotty flat, which they’re about to be thrown out of for not paying the rent.   Madeleine goes to an interview for a role with a well known producer, who assaults her. 

When he is found shot dead, she is accused of his murder by the incompetent clown of an investigating judge .  The French system is a rather different from the UK one, I should explain.   At first Madeleine denies it but then Pauline realises there is a way they can turn the situation to their advantage, which they do by turning the trial into a high profile theatrical event with an appreciative audience in the public seats, a fool of a prosecutor who contradicts himself, and an all male jury, moved to acquittal by Madeleine’s beautifully delivered speech pleading self defence and justification, written for her by Pauline.  

Fame and some riches follow, until former silent movie star Odette Chaumette, a wildly extravagant portrait in broad strokes from Isabelle Huppert, shows up, claiming that she is the murderess and wanting a share of the fame and fortune. 

It’s great fun with some very stylish  touches– the various accounts of the murder are played out in black and white silent movie style melodrama. The stars are the three women – Ozon’s trademark – but there are some amusing performances from the men too, particularly Fabrice Luchini as the investigating judge and Olivier Broche as his clever but downtrodden clerk, who quietly takes the rise out of his stupid and vain boss.  Plus a very endearing characterisation from Dany Boon as the man who has benefitted most from the murder but couldn’t possibly have done it. 

Light, frothy but with a touch of serious comment on sexual politics, the film is a very enjoyable piece of Gallic charm and fun.