62
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasUnlike "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind," which holds the memories of a doomed affair as precious, there's nothing bittersweet about Ozon's failed romance, but its problems are equally true.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames Berardinelli5x2 is a little talky and the pace is slow, but, for this kind of motion picture, it's one of the best around.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittCompellingly acted and rich in visual ideas, but a bit thin in its psychological approach.
- 70VarietyLisa NesselsonVarietyLisa NesselsonExcellent perfs and writer-director Francois Ozon's sure, unfussy way with the camera add up to a viewing experience whose richness depends in large part on how much the viewer reads into the human templates on display.
- 70Village VoiceDennis LimVillage VoiceDennis LimDeceptively placid and subtly unpredictable drama.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeminist sanctimony, it turns out, looks much the same forward and backward.
- 63New York PostNew York PostFrance's François Ozon's 5 x 2, which resembles Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" told in reverse, could be played for laughs, or suspense -- who killed this marriage? -- or with the rueful irony of Stephen Sondheim's backward musical "Merrily We Roll Along."
- 60SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIn the end I respected 5x2 more than I loved it. As we move backward in time, the distance between audience and characters inevitably widens -- we know what's going to happen and they don't -- and I found the effect a little astringent.
- 50The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensTold in the usual sequence, the story of Gilles and Marion would be a banal bell curve of infatuation, bliss, boredom, regret and recrimination. As it is, 5x2 does not quite make the case that Gilles and Marion are entirely worth our interest, let alone our sympathy, but the reversal of narrative order gives their ordinary moments together a faint aura of mystery, as Mr. Ozon teases us with the conceit that it will all make sense in the end - or rather, the beginning.