Death in Love

Review By: Lucy Cruell

Narrative, 2008

Director:  Boaz Yakin

USA/ English

The provocative, stunning, and at times harsh mix of imagery and dialogue in this film make it an incredibly powerful piece.  Flashes of lovemaking mix with glimpses of horrific violence during the opening narration that gives a description of all the darkest sides of love and desire told by the oldest son and ending with the phrase "and that's what it's like to be 40."  This opening sets the stage for a tale of an extremely dysfunctional family and the havoc they wreak on those around them.

The oldest son is a 40 year old, emotionally stunted, cynical, egocentric, sado-masochist and con-artist, and on top of that our hero.  His younger brother has a plethora of emotional disorders that keep him home and tied to his mother at the age of 35.  The father is more or less absent thus mostly all of the family's dysfunction stems from the mother, cold and distant at times, a tornado of fury at others, Jacqueline Bisset gives an incredible performance as a Holocaust survivor torn apart by her time during the war. 

Deserted by her husband, she is captured and survived in the camps by becoming the lover of a monstrous Nazi doctor who killed, tortured, and performed experiments on other inmates while she was pampered for pleasuring him.  The crux of the crushing guilt, pain, and confusion that gradually destroys her and engulfs her family, is that the monstrous doctor not only fell in love with her but somehow she fell in love right back.  In fact he was the only man she ever truly loved.  When they are reunited years later, the ultimate price for such a love must be paid.

The dialogue is darkly humorous and cynical, with views on men, women, and love that are warped and in some cases downright wrong.  It almost reads like a stage play but the electric editing and graphic imagery keep it from falling into the stilted and mundane.  This, coupled with each secret from the past as it is slowly revealed make for a thrilling, disturbing, engrossing movie.