When Sophie and Julien first meet, they begin a game that links them through their childhood and into their adult lives. The game becomes so important to them that it subverts their attempts at becoming “regular” people, living by the “rules” and fitting in to society’s constantly reinforced norms.
The game that they play is based around a tin canister that’s painted with a merry-go-round on it. Whoever possesses the canister can dare the other to do something, no matter how dangerous, outlandish or out-and-out unusual. The dare must not be refused or the game is lost.
The dares start out as unusual from the very beginning, with Julien almost causing a busload of children to crash. As Julien and Sophie grow up, their dares become their reason to live. Of course, in a relationship that is so co-dependent, one is bound to fall in love with the other and that’s where Love Me If You Dare gets complicated. It’s certainly not a traditional love story or even a story of a friendship that follows any set of established rules. The characters are not particularly likable, but you do see that two strange people like Julien and Sophie certainly deserve each other. You’ll probably hope that they end up together even though you can plainly see that they’re not healthy for one another at all.
When Love Me If You Dare was originally released to theaters, it was promoted as something that Amelie fans might enjoy. It’s French and it has a fantasy-like atmosphere in its tale of these two misguided (if not quite lost) souls, but it’s quite different from Amelie. Quite different, indeed.
That said, I didn’t dislike the movie. I just wasn’t expecting what I got: A bizarre, often hurtful, tale of two people who deserve each other at any cost. It’s definitely worth seeing, if only for the conversations it might inspire afterwards. Hopefully with someone who won’t cause you as much mental anguish as these two inflict on one another.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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