Foreign Films

I juz love foreign films.they are just so true, raw and not as corny as Hollywood or Hongkie Show moments ago, i just watched this
Jeux d'enfants (aka Love me if you dare) is the story of a game of truth or dare gone wildly out of control. The games (jeux) begin when Julien and Sophie are children (enfants), but as they grow older they intensify and become more twisted and dangerous. Although they are in love with each other, the game later dictates their future, and the dare even goes as far as hurting and tricking each other. Tells a story of two adults who never wanted to grow up and are getting this big burst of adrenaline out of this game. Their likewise escalating love strives to be expressed in a way other than through the games.

The overarching theme is of a struggle between childhood playfulness and the expectations of the adult world: the characters age significantly over the course of the film, and Julien is forced — several times — to pick between the rose–coloured world of fun represented by Sophie, or the expectations, demands, and successes of the adult world represented by his father and his eventual wife and children. Sophie, meanwhile, is content to live her life — as she puts it "a cream puff", becoming a trophy wife to a successful (soccer) player. Nonetheless, she keeps returning to Julien, despite her superficial satisfaction with what she has.

Keystone to the film is a small tin box in the shape of a carousel. In a flash–forward segment, the film opens with a shot of a construction site, with the box partially enveloped in concrete. Once we return to the present, we see Julien initially receives it from his mother, and upon seeing Sophie being mistreated by other children at school, presents it to her. He hopes she'll lend it back on occasion, but she demands he do something daring to prove he really wants it. Thereafter, the two are engaged in a playful rivalry: whoever has the box can force the other to perform a dare to get it back. The film ultimately ends with a nearly identical shot to the opening, with the box once again partially enveloped in concrete.

The film's visual style also reflects the setting: while Julien and Sophie are children, the world is slightly fuzzy, and everything is bright and colourful. As they grow older, the film becomes sharper, and the colour more realistic. In a hypothetical scene of the two as an elderly couple, the film again becomes fuzzy, but now has a definite sepia tint.

-adapted from Wikipedia



French longer version trailer

The Official Website

I totally loved the experience of this movie... and the conceit of "the game"! BUT what I really liked IS questionable... these were perhaps the MEANEST characters I've seen in a film who WEREN'T "bad guys" in years! That said... THAT'S what I loved! These characters were completely selfish... withholding their feelings from each other for fear of being hurt... but then taking it to another level by dragging innocent bystanders into their game (through marriages that are PART of the game)... Without giving away too much... what I liked about watching this movie unfold is what Hollywood never allows-- sometimes people just suck!

Michael Carlin

I totally agree. i like and hate the anticlimax too. It is especially wicked when they make one party believes that they are so totally in love and is goin to reconcile but then strike back with an even more evil revenge. it's a vicious cycle. sometimes you are so bored of hollywood romance movies, this actually come as a surprise to me. Though the "happy" ending is artsy, atypical and symbolic, it's still abit sad tho.... shall not spoil it for you...