Henry James ' short story (a dozen of pages) dealt with a ghost story ,Gothic style ; his novella "turn of the screw " spawned a horror classic ("the innocents " by Jack Clayton 1961) and "the ghostly rental " was successfully adapted here as a MTV film "la redevance du fantôme" .In "The friends of our friends " ,the storyteller tells about a woman's story ,based on an imaginary diary :it provides the movie with its outline : vision of a person at the moment of his/her death ,jealousy of a dead one .."you must choose between me and her"

Pascal Bonitzer butchered James ; transferred to our era ,the film could hardly possess a Gothic atmosphere ,but one could at last expect a sense of mystery ,something disturbing ; ,and never,in a month of Sundays ,one feels anguish, hidden forces ("the mark of his hidden hand")

James ' "unquenchable desire " is replaced by long sex scenes ;for good measure ,the heroine sits naked for her friend /artist.

If it weren't enough ,the cast is not up to scratch :Sara Giraudeau 's(like father ,like daughter ,nohow)namby-pamby acting and her looking flabbergasted get on one's nerve in the long run , and Nicolas Maury 's affected delivery does not help .