Love Me If You Dare
Short description
Julien and Sophie meet as eight-year-olds and invent a game of dares that carries them through childhood and into adulthood. Each challenge demands something bolder than the last, and the two keep raising the stakes as they grow up. The contest becomes the centre of their relationship, a bond in which affection and cruelty are hard to separate, and neither is willing to be the first to give in. What began as a way for two children to distract themselves from unhappiness turns into a lifelong habit they cannot break, even as the consequences grow more serious.
Yann Samuell directed and co-wrote the film with Jacky Cukier, and it was his first feature. Guillaume Canet plays the adult Julien and Marion Cotillard the adult Sophie, with Thibault Verhaeghe and Joséphine Lebas-Joly as the children; Emmanuelle Grönvold and Gérard Watkins appear as Julien's parents. The production was a Belgian, American and French co-production, and it took about 9 million dollars worldwide.
Audiences received it warmly: on IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from roughly 74,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from around 1,900 votes. Critics were less convinced, giving it 5.5 out of 10 across 76 reviews, well below the audience scores. Samuell went on to direct My Sassy Girl, War of the Buttons, The Lulus and Compostelle.
What's left behind the scenes
- The song “La Vie En Rose” by Édith Piaf is performed in the film by French singer Zazie.
- In one scene, Julien and Sophie voluntarily agree to be covered in concrete. In reality, apple sauce was poured over the actors Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard.
- The original French title was “Games of Children” (“Jeux d'enfants”), and the phrase “Love me if you dare” was coined by American distributors.
- During filming, Guillaume Canet was married to Diane Kruger, so the romance between him and Marion Cotillard remained strictly on-screen. Four years later (by which time Canet had separated from Kruger), Guillaume and Marion began dating in real life.
- The film is dedicated to Gérard and Sonia, the adoptive parents of Yann Samuel. They died in a car accident a week before the film's release.
- In the scene where Julien and Sophie are encased in concrete, apple sauce was poured over the actors.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
