Stereotypes about women in business in Love Crime

The French drama Love Crime, quite aptly described in its straightforward title, is a little bauble of a movie, entertaining enough, after a slow and awkward start, as a crime drama in reverse - we have no doubt as to who commits the murder and why; the question is, how does she walk? What's she up to, as she assiduously plants all kinds of clues that seem to us to be self-incriminating? By the end, all the clues are explained and we see how her mind has worked - and yet - as with so many complex crime capers, a million things have to go exactly right for her scheme to work out, and by god they sure do! On any close examination, the whole plot falls apart, so probably best just to enjoy it and accept it for what it is - which is - something that very much reminded me of the Glenn Close TV drama Damages: powerful woman in law/business takes on a protegee who inevitably becomes her arch rival. Cruelty and bitchiness abound, and so does blood, eventually. Although I got a little tired of Damages after three seasons, it's a lot stronger than Love Crime - mostly because of Close (though Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead in Love Crime is very good), but also because it's played out in a fairly complex political-legal drama. Love Crime is ostensibly about advertising and marketing, but it's no Mad Men, believe me: the board room scenes are ludicrous, could have been written by a 6th-grader: We really love your three bullet points! This is a great day for our company! Damages at least makes Close a really awesome and powerful character, whereas Scott Thomas in Love Crime is just needy and nasty - unfortunately, playing into the stereotype that women cannot lead in the corporate or business world because their jealousies and passions get in the way. It's a movie about two women seems to be very much from the (French?) male point of view.