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FILM REVIEW

An Unhappy Marriage, From Divorce to Wedding

By A. O. Scott

June 10, 2005

The 2 in François Ozon's "5x2" are Marion (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Freiss), a French couple whose unhappy marriage is chronicled backward through five episodes, starting with their divorce and ending with their first encounter at an Italian seaside resort.

The relationship, as glimpsed in these partial, pointed vignettes, is a chronicle of failed connections and miscommunication (with reference to relevant articles from the matrimonial sections of the French Civil Code). These two never seem to want the same thing at the right time. They have sex, unhappily, after their divorce papers are signed, but not after their wedding vows have been exchanged -- at least not with each other -- and their desires, erotic and otherwise, seem, from finish to start, always to be at cross-purposes.

Mr. Ozon, whose recent films include "Swimming Pool," "8 Femmes" and "Under the Sand," has an evident fondness for combining earnest melodrama with self-conscious gimmickry. After "Memento" and "Irréversible," reverse chronology is not exactly a novelty, but it does make some dramatic sense in this case.

Told 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.

Of course, love is not a puzzle that can easily be solved, and the real ingenuity of "5x2" lies in Mr. Ozon's mastery of emotional shorthand. He tells us very little about the characters and seems to have encouraged Ms. Bruni-Tedeschi and Mr. Freiss not to be too obvious or revealing. In their private moments as well as when there are other people around, Gilles and Marion display both easy married-couple intimacy and the guarded, tentative manner of people who do not quite trust each other. (Not, as it turns out, that they should.) Their furtive glances and hesitations are the sand in the gears of their shared life, which seems to have ended by wearing down gradually.

Or so we assume. Gilles and Marion may not know each other very well, but we hardly know them at all. We witness, in 90 minutes, a handful of discontinuous scenes.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Five Times Two

Five stages in the romance between a woman and a man. Five stages in the romance between a woman and a man. Five stages in the romance between a woman and a man.

François Ozon
Emmanuèle Bernheim
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Stéphane Freiss
Françoise Fabian
64 User reviews
103 Critic reviews
62 Metascore
1 win & 2 nominations

Top cast 19

(as Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi)

L'Américain

L'avocate
L'échographiste
(as Ninon Bretecher)
La mère de Gilles
Le père de Gilles
Le réceptionniste
L'animateur italien
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia In the French edition of the DVD, the director offers a version of the movie titled "2 x 5". This version shows the five sequences in the chronological order, from the moment the couple meets till their divorce. Subtle editing work has been applied to make the movie work.
Goofs The scene where the American came to Marion during the wedding night and introduced himself who arrived in France today and would leave tomorrow for LA. Who would just do that? It's just lame. (Answer: someone not coming from the USA, for instance.)
Soundtracks Cinq Fois Deux Performed by Philippe Rombi Courtsey OST by BMG

User reviews 64

Jan 25, 2005
How long is Five Times Two? Powered by Alexa
What is the timeline of the film?
September 1, 2004 (France)
BIM Distribuzione (Italy)
Official site (France)
Vida en pareja
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Roissy-en-France, Val-d'Oise, France
Fidélité Productions
France 2 Cinéma
See more company credits at IMDbPro
€5,250,784 (estimated)
Jun 12, 2005

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes
Dolby Digital

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5 x 2 Review

18 Mar 2005

Only Ingmar Bergman and Eric Rohmer have consistently written better roles for women than François Ozon and it’s apt that they’re stylistically referenced in this astute study of marital manners.

Although he employs the gimmick of working backwards in five episodes from Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Stéphane Freiss’ divorce to their first meeting, Ozon tells his tale with a straightforward, sympathetic seriousness that perfectly suits the couple’s small-scale, yet intensely personal, tragedy.

As the victim who proves herself capable of being a vixen, Bruni-Tedeschi feels more rounded than Freiss’ ensnared husband. Consequently, her performance holds things together, allowing Ozon to explore everyday emotions with poignancy, while not making a drama out of each crisis.

Suggestions

Review: 5×2.

Oh, François, you big tease!

François Ozon’s 5×2 takes five reels detailing the marital discontent of Marion (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) and projects them in reverse order, beginning with the couple’s finalization of their divorce agreement (and a desperate post-divorce “one last time” tête-à-tête) and ending on the day a postcard-perfect sunset first sparked their infatuation. The most obvious metaphorical implication for this structural fuss is not, as per Gaspar Noé, that time destroys everything, but rather that every relationship implicitly begins with the risk-reward contemplation of the eschatological nature of romance.

Ozon calculates a saggy linear model by which he posits a universal pattern for romance. The initiation begins out of necessity from the ennui over previous relationships; Ozon’s beautiful people are never not in relationships, but I’d expect nothing less from such creamy curves and tanned pecs. The secret betrayals of thought and deed (Marion, on her wedding night, ends up screwing a studly Riviera tourist when Gilles passes out under the nuptial canopy) are cosmically answered with more overt, hostile retaliations (Gilles goes MIA while Marion gives birth to their child), stabs at therapeutic profligacy in hope of jump-starting the lovers’ mutual sense of jealous provinciality, and ultimately the bitter-relieved separatees.

Not exactly a nihilistic film (in practice, it’s mostly bemused, the cinematic equivalent of Freiss’s vacant, one-eyebrow-raised sneer), 5×2 ’s most transgressive segment is probably the second act, or the point at which the coordinates of XX and XY seem to validate a surprising number of mathematical theorems. It’s when the couple throw an intimate dinner party between themselves and a May-August gay couple. For a petite longueur, Ozon seems to posit the gay couple’s presence as a diffidently naughty alternate dimension that Marion and Gilles could theoretically expand their horizons with, with “August” (hiding his humiliation behind a façade of open-mindedness) admitting that “May” is free to cash in the rewards of youth on whomever he pleases and Gilles regaling the table with a lengthy account of the experience he had at an orgy where he took dick up his ass while Marion watched on the sidelines.

Only after Marion has glamorously teared up during Gilles’s storytime, seeming to indicate a foresight into the evening’s descent into homo-narcissism, do we learn that “August” is actually Gilles’s brother (if I had a brother, I’m sure that I’d tell him all about my vaginal conquests). Oh, François, you big tease! Still, this tossed-off disclosure constitutes perhaps the only moment in 5×2 that the backsliding chronology conveys surprise and revelation.

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Eric Henderson

Eric Henderson is the web content manager for WCCO-TV. His writing has also appeared in City Pages .

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5x2 Reviews

Once again Ozon proves he is a master. There are homosexual elements here, of course, as there are in almost all his features.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2018

The acting of both leads is good, at times more than that, but you feel that you've already seen every scene they're in, in countless other movies.

Full Review | Mar 1, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2006

It ends where the story begins at an Italian seaside resort as the couple happily swim off together into the sunset at their first encounter.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 4, 2006

Deconstructing the breakup of a romance in reverse chronological order is no longer original; Pinter has done it in "Betrayal."

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 20, 2005

Ozon has a studied, contemplative style at work here.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 28, 2005

Peeling off the emotional layers one by one, Franois Ozon's 5 X 2 reveals intimate snapshots of a relationship, simply but searingly.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2005

(...) Es de esas pelculas que vale quiz ms por las reflexiones y debates que dispara entre las personas que como pieza cinematogrfica en s misma.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 17, 2005

The soulful Bruni-Tedeschi gives the impression that her beautiful face is bruised, even though it is blemish free; it's one of the best performances of the year.

Full Review | Original Score: '3.5/4' | Oct 14, 2005

Even while we're flipping through the snapshots of two people's ultimate disenchantment with each other, it never feels tawdry or excessive or, for that matter, very interesting.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 18, 2005

We watch Marion and Gilles with a sort of clinical detachment, and it's difficult to really care.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 16, 2005

Doesn't feel like a gimmick at all. It feels like a natural introduction to the characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 1, 2005

Bruni-Tedeschi and Freiss give solid performances, though, and their physical transformations over time (a slight weight gain for her, facial hair for him) are convincing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 26, 2005

The reverse-chronology gimmick ends up only serving up a trite observation that lies and mistrust are a poor foundation for a marriage.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 26, 2005

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's character is the one to watch throughout the film, as it is in her demeanor that we learn all the answers -- or all the questions, anyway.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 25, 2005

A cool, sometimes chilly dissection of one couple's relationship.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 18, 2005

The effect of the reverse sequencing is to make us view everything in the film -- even hopeful events like a marriage or the birth of a child -- with sadness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 11, 2005

The story never delves deep enough into the characters to really say anything significant.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 8, 2005

Like reading a book from which most of the connective chapters have been removed, backwards.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 6, 2005

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 29, 2005

5x2 (France, 2004)

5x2 is a departure for François Ozon, at least from his recent films. This is a simpler, more basic story than Swimming Pool or Under the Sand , and does not star either Charlotte Rampling or Ludivine Sagnier. Throughout his career, Ozon has delighted in switching genres and tones from film-to-film. He has done everything from dark, psychological thrillers to jaunty musicals. 5x2 takes him in yet another direction: the romantic drama. And it's another winner, at least for those who appreciate this sort of adult material and the unhurried pace applied by the director.

Ozon's take on Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, 5x2 deconstructs the union of two individuals whose plans for a lifetime of shared happiness end up in divorce court. Despite the French subtitles, this will resonate for many American couples, even those who aren't among the 50% of marriage casualties. 5x2 doesn't tackle any "big" themes - it's simply an autopsy of a marriage. Ozon's intent is to show how something that begins with such optimism can degrade to the point where the only option is to dissolve the bonds and renounce the vows.

The movie provides five scenes (all of about equal length) from the marriage of Marion (Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Friess). The sequences are presented in reverse chronological order, starting with an amicable divorce followed by some rough "good-bye" sex. Next is a dinner party a few years earlier, when cracks in the relationship are beginning to show. Half-way through the marriage, Marion gives birth to a son, and Gilles is too freaked out to be present or visit his wife in the hospital. Then there's the wedding, when an exhausted Gilles sleeps while a restless Marion wanders (and one wonders whether there's going to be an extramarital encounter before the marriage bed has been christened). Finally, we are shown the meeting where the attraction between them becomes obvious (even to Gilles' long-term girlfriend at the time).

The simplicity of the film gives it a certain charm. Marion and Gilles are not good or bad. Like most real people, they're flawed but not dysfunctional. The performances are unaffected; we lose sight of the actors and just see the characters. And the reverse structure allows Ozon to conclude this ultimately downbeat story on a positive and romantic note. 5x2 is a little talky and the pace is slow, but, for this kind of motion picture, it's one of the best around.

Comments Add Comment

Cider House Rules, The (1999)
Citizen Kane (1941)
War Zone, The (1999)
Hole in My Heart, A (2005)
Neon Demon, The (2016)
Showgirls (1995)
(There are no more better movies of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi)
(There are no more worst movies of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi)
(There are no more better movies of Stéphane Freiss)
(There are no more worst movies of Stéphane Freiss)

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Time Out says

Release details.

Release date: Friday 18 March 2005
Duration: 90 mins

Cast and crew

Director: François Ozon
Michael Lonsdale
Françoise Fabian
Marc Ruchmann
Stéphane Freiss
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Antoine Chappey
Géraldine Pailhas

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COMMENTS

5x2 | Rotten Tomatoes
5x2. As young French couple Gilles (Stéphane Freiss) and Marion (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) officially separate, we see, in reverse order, the milestone moments in their relationship: Gilles ...
5x2 - Wikipedia
5x2 (also Cinq fois deux; English: Five Times Two) is a 2004 French film directed by François Ozon, which uncovers the back story to the gradual disintegration of a middle class marriage by depicting five key moments in the relationship, but in reverse order.
An Unhappy Marriage, From Divorce to ... - The New York Times
June 10, 2005. The 2 in François Ozon's "5x2" are Marion (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stéphane Freiss), a French couple whose unhappy marriage is chronicled backward through five...
Five Times Two (2004) - IMDb
Five Times Two: Directed by François Ozon. With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Stéphane Freiss, Françoise Fabian, Michael Lonsdale. Five stages in the romance between a woman and a man.
5 x 2 Review | Movie - Empire
5 x 2 Review. The story of Marion and Gilles' relationship told through five key episodes which are shown in reverse chronological order. by David Parkinson |. Published on 01...
5x2 - Metacritic
5x2 is a haunting and realistic evocation of the evanescence of love, and how adult relationships evolve over time. Returning to a more intimate scale following his international smash "Swimming Pool," Ozon's chamber drama is an anatomy of a failed marriage told in reverse chronology.
Review: 5x2 - Slant Magazine
Not exactly a nihilistic film (in practice, it’s mostly bemused, the cinematic equivalent of Freiss’s vacant, one-eyebrow-raised sneer), 5×2’s most transgressive segment is probably the second act, or the point at which the coordinates of XX and XY seem to validate a surprising number of mathematical theorems. It’s when the couple ...
5x2 - Movie Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 1, 2005. Jeff Vice Deseret News (Salt Lake City) Bruni-Tedeschi and Freiss give solid performances, though, and their physical transformations over...
5x2 | Reelviews Movie Reviews
5x2 is a departure for François Ozon, at least from his recent films. This is a simpler, more basic story than Swimming Pool or Under the Sand, and does not star either Charlotte Rampling or Ludivine Sagnier. Throughout his career, Ozon has delighted in switching genres and tones from film-to-film.
5 x 2 2005, directed by François Ozon | Film review - Time Out
In ‘5x2’ François Ozon, the hard-working boy wonder of new French cinema, leads us backwards through the failed marriage of a young couple, from the cold details of their divorce to the first...