5X2

In 5X2 Fran?ois Ozon depicts scenes from a marriage, complete with Bergman overtones. At the beginning, a break-up. Thirty-somethings Gilles and Marion are a loving married couple, and we meet them on the occasion of their divorce. Their story is told backward, a la ?Memento? and ?Irreversible,? in five different segments, allowing the audience to examine how the marriage slowly unraveled, leading to their initial meeting?a happy ?ending.? Ozon says, ?Stories told backwards often generate a kind of suspense: you?re waiting for the revelation. I wanted the film to evolve in such a way that the tone and issues would change chapter by chapter.? Like his other psychologically intense films, the characters in 5 x 2 are rather quiet (Ozon likes to eliminate explanatory dialogue), letting their excellent chemistry carry many scenes. Described by a critic as ?intellectually trenchant and emotionally brutal,? 5 x 2 is Ozon?s first masterpiece.