Just Another Love Story (2007)

Just Another Love Story (2007) is a Danish thriller film (Kærlighed_på_film). I’ve seen at least four films by Ole Bornedal, who has made a name for himself on the other side of the Atlantic. I really like 1994’s Nightwatch, so I watched its 2023 sequel. I really like The Possession (2012) and The Shadow in My Eye (2021) is the best he’s done. Unlike this one, which I think is the worst!

Yes, I know quite a few people liked it. But of course: it’s unhealthy and disgusting! That’s what appeals to people in this day and age…

Well, I haven’t yet seen Deliver Us from Evil (2009), Small Town Killers (2016) or The Substitute (2007), because I don’t have access to those films yet. But I’m willing to see them.

This Danish film is ultra-twisted and disturbing. There’s weakness, betrayal and adultery, so it’s full of lies and cowardice, but also a major car accident and identity confusion. It’s not just another love story, and you’ll understand that the title is deliberately misleading. But if you really want to see a romance or romantic comedy, avoid Bornedal’s films at all costs!

It’s hard to think it’s bad, and even harder to think it’s excellent. You can feel the influence of Almodóvar, but even darker. ‘Just Another Love Story’ is a complex story that constantly juggles psychological drama and thriller. A little shaky at times, unintentionally funny at others, this film nevertheless manages to hold the viewer’s attention thanks to a way of filming and layering shots that recall the early years of a certain Darren Aronofsky. Indeed, the director deconstructs his narrative in flashes in the manner of Requiem for a Dream (2000).

The initial pitch sets the tone from the outset, with a gallery of unclassifiable characters whose way of thinking is way off the beaten track.

Once again, the dialogue is interesting, as is the direction. Surprising, unbalanced, but full of screenwriting and visual inventions that command respect, this feature film is well worth a look, although I didn’t love it. It’s a welcome change from many pseudo-intellectual, slow-paced Scandinavian productions. Here, there’s a bit of action and reflection at the same time, but the story isn’t particularly well controlled and we could have wished for a different ending.

A dramatic plot that takes on the air of a thriller, as Denmark is obliged to do! The result is easy to follow. A parallel life and a new, much more seductive identity – isn’t that what many people dream of? Especially when it takes precedence over the previous one, which is subordinate, for example, to doing the morning shopping with the wife and kids!

I said at the outset that this is the worst Ole Bornedal film I’ve ever seen, but I also said that it deserves a closer look. No, I’m not bipolar or moody, but I’m trying to be objective. Not everything I don’t like is bad.

But I wouldn’t pretend to be anything other than incredibly disappointed by this film, basically. Even though I didn’t hate it and it has plenty of good points. I just expected a lot more, that’s all. I won’t dwell on the plot, which can at best be described as disjointed and incoherent.

The acting was decent, despite more than a few moments of imbalance between the characters’ reactions and their feelings in certain scenes, but I accept that it’s a difficult exercise to have that coherence.

The real culprit behind this relatively disastrous film is its director, who has managed to cram into his story everything that is worst about Danish cinema. Indeed, if you don’t like the cinema of this region, I don’t think this one will make you appreciate it. Unless you have a completely twisted and sinister mind.
From the unnecessary overuse of the macabre to the exploitation of human emotions in an almost pornographic way, the viewer gets the sense of a reality that fetishises the darker side of life in a very disturbing way. It’s as if the worst things aren’t so bad.

This review, which I read, intrigued and even reassured me: “For my part, I managed to be more frustrated and angry than I’ve ever been watching a film. An absolutely atrocious piece of work that only wants to appeal to the emotionally unstable…”

Yes, unless you really manage to put a barrier between the cinema and your own life, between the screen and your reality. But, in that case, aren’t we emotionless, armoured against everything? If so, that’s the definition of a psychopath, isn’t it?