5x2 2004

Critics score:
65 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ozon, as he's shown in his many recent films (particularly Under the Sand), knows a thing or two about love and loss; 5x2 achingly demonstrates both. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Unwinds with absolute clarity and sure style, and Freiss and Bruni-Tedeschi make an interesting couple, if not a truly memorable one. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: You can get an idea of the two seemingly contradictory truths about this movie: It's not much fun, and it's impossible to stop watching. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A cool, sometimes chilly dissection of one couple's relationship. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Gilles and Marion may be more than the sum of their regrets, but because their creator hasn't done the math, they remain touching stick figures. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: [Seems] less like scenes from a marriage than highlights from a gay man's fevered nightmare of what it would be like to be a straight married couple. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Ozon stages each scene so assuredly, with such a fluid sense of motive and desire, that I assumed we'd witness how even the best of intentions, from each party, could strand a marriage on the rocks. But no. Read more

Dallas Morning News: Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Absent a meaty rationale, reading the story of a marriage backward smacks of derivative gimmickry. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Bruno-Tedeschi has one of those alert, off-kilter screen faces that burn with light and intelligence even as their characters slide into darkness: a tragedienne of the first order. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: With his convoluted narrative, Mr. Ozon has avoided some of the sentimental pitfalls of his subject, but only at the expense of much of its suspense. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Francois Ozon uses reverse chronology to tell the story of a failed marriage. The device is not exactly a novelty, but it does make some dramatic sense in this case. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 5x2 is a little talky and the pace is slow, but, for this kind of motion picture, it's one of the best around. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: We never get to know the twosome, and the intense curiosity generated by the opening scene starts to wane severely. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The inevitability of the conceit could wear on us, were it not for the lived-in performances of the cast, most important Bruni-Tedeschi and Freiss. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: It integrates ordinary pleasures, anxiety, joy, doubt and loneliness into a slightly melancholy portrait that's deceptively simple but never dull. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: 5x2 tacitly interrogates the tyrannizing ideals and hypocritical norms that compel people into doomed relationships that persist long enough for lasting damage to occur. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's fascinating, like watching the collapse of a building in reverse. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The film is Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage without the boring parts -- wait, I'm not supposed to say that. Read more