Philip Cunliffe
posted 5 May 2005

5x2 is a film that attracted many sympathetic reviews for its portrayal of the breakdown of a middle class marriage - but in reverse. The film begins with the punctilious sterility of the divorce agreement being read out by a magistrate - the division of property and mortgages and so on. Through a series of chapters, the film then slowly takes us back through the birth of the couple's son, their mutual infidelities, until it finally ends in the heady days of first love and infinite possibilities.

For this, it earned a reputation as a tender and humanistic exploration of contemporary love and relationships. But much of the 'exploration' is a rather crude trucking in stereotypes. The marriage of the two central characters, Gilles and Marion, is unimaginatively juxtaposed to two 'alternatives': the open relationship of Gilles' gay brother, and the marriage of Marion's parents, mired in bickering and mutual loathing but nonetheless indestructible (because their generation 'didn't divorce'.)

The film has its moments, being well acted, and occasionally flashes a brilliant set-piece - particularly the very last scene. But for all of Ozon's hard-nosed cynicism about contemporary relationships, he is seemingly unable to explore any authentic alternate possibilities, instead falling back on our faded collective cultural memory of sentimental romance, underscored by a sound track of syrupy Italian love songs.

Tellingly, the very conceit of the movie indicates that Ozon is unable or unwilling to broach the question of what comes next, after the divorce. Another relationship? Another, maybe this time happier or more realistic marriage? A singleton lifestyle, raising a child shared between parents living separate lives? Whatever happens, life goes on - and how it goes on is the more interesting and difficult question for cultural explorations of contemporary marriage and relationships. But Ozon finds it easier to play the fantasy reel: travelling backwards in time to romantic sunsets and bittersweet nostalgia.