One to Another

“Part sun-glazed remembrance of youth, part discursive murder mystery, the third (and most impressive) feature co-directed by Franco-American actor Jean-Marc Barr and screenwriter Pascal Arnold offers up an uncommonly sensual and disquieting take on a familiar youth-movie theme: how the cocoon of adolescent sexual awakening can be torn apart by violent desire. The film’s bifurcated narrative follows the investigation into the disappearance of the magnetic Pierre (Arthur Dupont), while flashing back to Pierre’s last days in the company of his three best mates and his sister, Lucie (Lizzie Brocheré). The flashbacks unfold over a long, hot summer in which the five friends beat the heat by skinny dipping, basking nude in the sun and hopping in and out of each other’s beds in dizzying permutations of incest and pansexuality — until the two halves of the film collide in a chilling, if not entirely surprising, revelation. Although One to Another takes its inspiration from a real-life French homicide case, it’s clear that Barr and Arnold aspire to the realm of modern mythology: Their Pierre is one of those bright, golden youths who seem doomed to unduly brief lives, and in his end we may see our own inevitable fall from the garden.” (Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly)