SCREEN
Screwball murderess rivalry in 1930s Paris; a brisk, linear Brian Epstein biopic; sinister secrets in an Irish convent; more…
THE CRIME IS MINE Between 1928 and 1948, working at the daft heart of the studio system in the golden age of Hollywood, Ernst Lubitsch directed 23 feature films (including all-time masterpieces like Trouble In Paradise, The Shop Around The Corner and To Be Or Not To Be). It’s a work rate (and hit rate) that feels unimaginable today. Until you realise that The Crime Is Mine happens to be François Ozon’s 23rd film since 1997’s See The Sea bridged the gap from short to feature and kickstarted his own poly-genre spree.
Ozon’s personal pantheon is full of prolific maniacs (Buñuel, Fassbinder, Hitchcock) whose work he’s been inspired to revisit and refresh. But his first dalliance with Lubitsch – 2016’s Frantz – saw him rework the uncharacteristically sombre Broken Lullaby. With The Crime Is Mine he embraces 1930s screwball with full gusto, creating a wickedly delicious romp through crime, punishment and matrimony.
Madeleine (the fabulously pouty Nadia Tereszkiewicz) is a struggling actress, living in a dilapidated Parisian attic with her gamine gal pal Pauline, a trainee lawyer. When a lecherous theatrical producer is murdered in mysterious circumstances, Madeleine becomes the prime suspect – she’d visited him on the day of his murder and had rebuffed his advances. She’s innocent of the crime but sees the career potential in professing guilt: her role as the wronged woman defending her honour is boffo box office and makes her a star. What’s more, Pauline acts as her defence lawyer and becomes the go-to-girl for wronged women everywhere.