Critical response On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "This romantic thriller puts Tautou's sweetheart Amelie image to good use." In the United States,
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle noted it was the "first feature from 26-year-old Laetitia Colombani and represents about as assured a debut as they come. The first smart thing, of many, that Colombani does is cast Audrey Tautou in the lead role. Tautou has made several movies, but in America she is known for only one,
Amélie, in which she played a wide-eyed innocent. Here she is just as wide-eyed, but if she's innocent it's only by reason of insanity.
He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not has its own charms, but part of its wicked kick is that it's the anti-
Amélie, presenting romantic fixation, not as noble and sweet, but objectively, as something selfish and volatile....[the film is] driven by a shrewd vision and, beneath its cool French surface, a well-placed sense of moral indignation. Tautou could not be better: She's infuriating — as well as emotionally present every moment onscreen."
Richard Schickel called Colombani a "terrifically assured filmmaker" whose "twice-told tale" is the "basis for an intricately ironic, darkly witty movie with a twist ending that is both utterly surprising and utterly right"; in a comparison with Tautou's performance in
Amélie, the film "displays a more dangerous kind of innocence with a charm that shades off into obsessive madness in very gentle, persuasive increments. Mostly, it's because this French film brings a cool, almost
Pascalian logic to the messy topic of erotomania." In the United Kingdom, Demetrios Matheou of
The Independent called it "an assured, if slightly too obvious thriller by first-time director Laetitia Colombani"; the film's originality in its subject matter, called a "welcome change from the offensive
'woman scorned' scenario of so many
Fatal Attraction, is lost somewhat in her treatment – which gives first Angelique's perspective, before rewinding to show Loïc's. But a serious plus is Tautou, whose creepy, disturbing performance proves that the wide-eyed Amélie is a young actress with range." The
Evening Standard called it an "irredeemably bad French film" with "characters [that] are cartoon representations of
good and evil. By the time we work out what's really going on, it's too late: Angélique has earned our hatred and Loïc has shown himself too passive to hold our interest."
Box office In France, the film sold 580,084 tickets. The film, given a
limited release to 23 North American movie theaters, grossed $1,011,102 during its theatrical run. The film was a modest success internationally grossing $101,483 in Austria, $13,306 in Czech Republic, $92,473 in Finland, $720,970 in Germany, $116,274 in Hong Kong, $60,825 in Hungary, $42,151 in Poland, $25,354 in Taiwan, and $140,124 in Turkey, for a worldwide total of $5,126,264. ==References==