Entertainment

New cinema releases: L'Amant Double, My Friend Dahmer, Ismael's Ghosts

L'Amant Double
L'Amant Double L'Amant Double

L'AMANT DOUBLE (18, 108 mins)

French enfant terrible Francois Ozon returns to the sexually charged delights of his earlier films for this heated psychological thriller.

Deception and illusion are key themes of L'Amant Double, which centres on a former model called Chloe (Marine Vacth), who lives alone with her cat in Paris and has been struck down with crippling stomach pains.

She seeks answers from a gynaecologist, who refers Chloe to a handsome therapist called Paul (Jeremie Renier).

Sparks of attraction between healer and patient compromise the effectiveness of the session and Chloe quickly moves into Paul's apartment to begin a passionate romance.

However, he remains an enigma and she discovers that her mysterious beau has a doppelganger, a twin brother he refuses to talk about .

Unlike his sibling, Louis is fully in touch with his sexual desires and he inspires Chloe to embark on a journey of self-satisfaction that forces her to choose between the brothers.

MY FRIEND DAHMER (15, 105 mins)

Ross Lynch delivers a chilling performance as the teenage Jeffrey Dahmer in this biographical drama written and directed by Marc Meyers, adapted from a graphic novel by John Backderf about the formative years of the serial killer.

Set in the mid to late 1970s, the film focuses on high school student Jeffrey (Lynch) as he develops a crush on local physician Dr Matthews (Vincent Kartheiser), who regularly jogs past the Dahmer family home.

At school, Jeffrey is alienated from the other students until classmate John (Alex Woolf) encourages Jeffrey to exploit his outsider status by taking part in a series of anti-establishment pranks.

As an unlikely bond grows between the teenage boys, John glimpses the demons that consume Jeffrey and realises he has strayed dangerously close to the edge of darkness.

ISMAEL'S GHOSTS (15, 135 mins)

Arnaud Desplechin's intriguing drama stars Marion Cotillard as Carlotta. It has been 21 years since Carlotta abandoned her husband Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) and vanished without trace,.

He has slowly rebuilt his life, accepting she must be dead. Ismael has a new partner, Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and has rediscovered his creative fire, working tirelessly on a new film.

Out of the blue, Carlotta reappears and gate-crashes Ismael's ordered world, reopening old wounds and sending her husband into an emotional tailspin.

Art imitates life as the plot of Ismael's film whirls out of control and he struggles to maintain a firm grasp on his sanity.

:: All in selected cinemas from June 1.