“Breaking up is hard to do—but here’s a modern solution for the busy professional,” is the tag line of the hilarious 17 m short film by French director Eric Capitaine.
And that pretty much explains the meat of it. Élodie Navarre (stunningly beautiful, but it’s probably not apparent from these photos) and Thierry Neuvic star as two people who’ve never met. Until today. Neuvic comes over posing as a friend of Navarre’s live-in boyfriend who’s away for the weekend on skiing trip.
When she attempts to find boyhood pictures of the two of them, Neuvic explains this has been all a ruse and he works for “Love Is Dead,” a company that specializes in professional breakups for those two sensitive (re: cowardly) to deal with the pain of leaving a loved one.
If it sounds absurd that’s cause it kind of is, or at least darkly comedic. She think’s it must be some cruel joke and he dryly and methodically explains all the evidence to suggest why it’s clearly and sadly, nothing but the pathetic truth. A wry commentary on relationships and break-ups, it’s wickedly funny and kind of wrong, but the point is to laugh along with what a ridiculous idea it would be to hire someone to do your dirty work. Tremendously enjoyable if you have a twisted sense of humor (which you should).
“Love Is Dead” also opens up with a familar tune; it uses an mini-string orchestral instrumental version of Radiohead’s “2+2=5” from Hail To The Thief and ends with Kid Loco’s “A Little Bit Of Your Soul.” [A-]
A terrific quick-flick especially if you’re seeking an easy laugh. Brilliantly executed, ‘Love is Dead’ conjures up an idea for those of us who hate to take the cow out back and shoot it.
Yeah, this thing was great. I want to see more from this filmmaker.