re:mote voices

Title: Love Me If You Dare

Cast: Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard, Thibault Verhaeghe, Josephine Lebas-Joly, Laetizia Venezia

Director: Yann Samuell

I suspect that I am going to have to go see this film a second time to complete my opinion on it, especially given that having rushed from the showing of The Last Life In The Universe meant that I missed the start of this preview showing by minutes. Additionally my opinion is likely tainted by having grabbed a front row seat in the near sold out showing.

Love Me If You Dare is a new French film, which you will be unlikely to read about with out a comparison to the hugely successful French film Amelie. Comparisons being inevitable given the similarities in the look and feel of the design and mood of the early part of the film – even if director Yann Samuell does maintain that he has his designs prepared for this film years before Amelie came out. With that, Samuell’s background in animation is likely to be part of the reason why he at times takes a more artificial and fantastic approach to events.

The film starts with the introduction of the two children Julien and Sophie, both with a cute and endearing appearance, even though Julien is in denial about his mother’s terminal illness, and Sophie is treated badly as a Polish immigrant. But it is in each other they manage to shelter from the harsh realities. At the core of their relationship is their game of dares. But over the years, they have been inseparable, creating warped emotional bonds, especially when they reach a point where they can’t tell what is real and what is the product of their game.

Over the years the game of dare causes trouble. Continued visits to the school’s head master, being sent home and parental discipline. Causing havoc at weddings and funerals alike, bring real distress to their families, which is all justified by the cuteness and alternate tint put on events. However with the problems that come in, they turn from the world and against each other – increasingly malicious and hurtful. Bringing the dark undertones of the film to the fore as the pair reach their thirties and each new encounter forces them to new heights.

Love Me If You Dare is vivid, playful and dark, mixing tricks and tools to make it all work in an acceptable and amusing fashion. However, other than suggestions of similarities to anything else, the biggest problem with Love Me If You Dare is with the ending, which doesn’t entirely sit well – at least on a first viewing.