60
With his trademark subversive playfulness and delight in human foibles, Ozon weaves together comedy, suspense and occasional intimations of darker emotional themes, aided by subtly gauged performances from his two principals.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
Time Out London by Cath Clarke
What makes The New Girlfriend special is that is has something to say about sexuality (feminine, masculine, gay, straight, and everything in between – it’s complicated).
33
The Playlist by Christopher Schobert
The concept of the film could have been played several different ways, from farce to high-drama to Hitchcock-ian thriller. Ozon decides to try it all, but in the end doesn’t pull off any.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
A delectable riff on transformation, desire and sexuality that blends the heightened reality of melodrama with mischievous humor and an understated strain of Hitchcockian suspense.
80
The filmmaking is exemplary but most impressive of all is the tone that mixes comedy, melodrama and darkness.
38
Slant Magazine by James Lattimer
François Ozon is never willing to fully engage with the ridiculousness of his material, resulting in an uneasy mix of wry distance and unearned emotion.
90
This delectable entertainment is as surprising for its continually evolving (and involving) dynamics of desire as for its slow-building emotional power.
50
Village Voice by Serena Donadoni
Ozon sacrifices his sharp portrayal of grief and rebirth to clumsy convention.
60
François Ozon and the late Ruth Rendell is a great match of sensibilities: it promises the French director’s winking subversion, wedded to the late crime writer’s slippery command of psychological twists.