This is a great little French thriller, with a well-thought out plot that requires considerable acting ability on the part of Ludivine Sagnier's character.Ludivine was almost visionary in this picture. She stared out of every shot like someone possessed. Perhaps that's what she thinks ambition looks like.Sadly, little was made of her great figure. Photographs from "Swimming Pool" her American hit, prove that she has great breasts, worthy of a few shots in a film about a crime of passion.However, Ludivine's sex scenes with her love-object, her bosses's lover Phillipe are almost a joke. She rips off her clothes in a fury, but we glimpse not so much as a thigh, let alone a mammary gland. The director sadly died 12 days after the film's release, so perhaps he had lost interest in sex.Ludivine's crime is fantastic. She poses as utterly mad, eating barrels of supposed madness pills, and leaving all kinds of evidence that she indeed stabbed her evil boss to death. Then, hey presto, somehow she persuades the cops she never did it. Miraculous escape!Whereupon, she regains her position in the company and sees off her lover with her boss's document against him, a copy of which she had kept for this purpose. A very long-sighted character with brilliant acting ability. In the end, she thrives and we wish her all the best, even if we never saw her breasts.

I see this film is getting quite mixed reviews. I personally thought it was a very well thought out, perfectly executed thriller. The film moves quickly, you are very quickly aware of the dynamics between characters. The women are beautiful but without being overdone, a rarity. Great fashion. It was also nice to see a view of Paris like this. Corporate, cold. Without giving away too much of the plot, you really feel the tug of war of the central character, Isabelle. However you are never really sure who to trust in this film and it plays out beautifully in the last scenes. I found the quality of acting across the board, superb. I really liked the unsung hero of the film, Isabelle's work colleague. Loved him. Definitely a go see in my opinion!

Kristin Scott Thomas is one of the better, and still under-appreciated, actresses. She also happens to be fluent in both English and French, so she is a natural for the part of Christine , ruthless boss in this Paris office. It never is quite clear what they do, but they do studies and make presentations to clients that will help them increase their business tremendously.So in this Paris office Ludivine Sagnier (of 'Swimming Pool' fame) is the hot-shot, right-hand woman Isabelle Guérin. She is so good that after she does a detailed study, Christine sends her to Cairo to deliver the presentation herself. But then a couple of days later, in the Paris office, Christine is on a phone call, with Isabelle standing right there, and Christine takes full credit for Isabelle's work, further enhancing her promotion possibilities to that better job in New York.Isabelle is stunned but Christien assures her 'that is the way things are done' and if they all stick together they will all be better off. However this never sits well with Isabelle, and things get even worse after she is double-crossed with a man involved.Frankly the situations do not seem legitimate, for a number of reasons and many of the later developments are clearly telegraphed well in advance. Still it is fun to see the story unfolding. Sagnier, who seems to be best known for her nudity in film, shows that she is a very capable actress and in fact the film contains no nudity.SPOILERS: Isabelle decides that her only recourse is to kill Christine. So she systematically sets up the crime so that it points to her, and she is arrested and charged. But she had in fact taken the time to set up clues to eventually free her, and to frame the dishonest man for the crime. However, in the end her faithful assistant, Guillaume Marquet as Daniel , lets her know he understands what she did and she will have to keep him happy to keep her secret.

A brilliantly acted modern French thriller is one way of describing director Alain Corneau's latest film "Love Crime (Crime d'amour)". Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as executive and assistant at a big corporate conglomerate. Scott Thomas plays the brutally ruthless and manipulative Christine, while Sagnier is Isabelle the young and beautiful assistant. (aka fresh meat).Christine has Isabelle take her place on a business trip to Cairo along with the attractive Phillipe. Before long they're having torrid affair, but when Phillipe breaks it off and Christine takes credit for all of Isabelle's work, the cat and mouse game of revenge begins. The story and plot are heavily structured and things have to happen as it's written to make everything else happen. I'm not all that familiar with the French legal system, but there are a few instances when something has to happen for the story to move forward and it doesn't matter how improbable it seems.When Christine publicly humiliates Isabelle in front of the all of the executives at a party, this is the last straw and Isabelle plans an executes an even more brutal plan. After another get together at Christine's house, Isabelle dressed in a white overall stabs her to death but leaves clues to implicate herself. At first viewing this seems kind of odd but its all apart of her elaborate plan. The evidence is seemingly overwhelming and Isabelle is sent to prison. With the help of her sister and friendly co-worker Daniel, Isabelle puts the other half of her plan into motion. The acting by these two women really pushes this film to more that just your average thriller.To put it in Hollywood terms its "The Devil Wears Prada" meets "The Perfect Murder". Eventually everything happens as it should and her masterful plan is complete. The road up the corporate latter is pretty brutal and leaves its share of victims along the way both literally and figuratively. Who ever wants it more and is willing to sell out their very soul will become that more rich and that more powerful. "Love Crime" is currently available on Netflix watch instantly.