Yann Samuel's film "Love Me if you Dare" ("Jeux d'Enfants") charts the course of two misfits (Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard) who create a private game of Dare as children that becomes more complex and absurd as both enter into adulthood.The production is gorgeous with Samuel using light and in particular color, or the lack of them as a way of conveying mood and emotion. Also, the two leads: Canet and Cotillard are charming in a warped, out-of-kilter way. Ultimately though the hyper emotionality and the complex relationship between the two leads defeats Samuel and we walk away from the film feeling cheated and spent.Samuel tries to keep a rein on the ever-escalating action but it spins out of control into mean-spirited ugliness nonetheless. Childhood games are (remember that in France this film was called "Jeux d'enfants" or Child's Games) better left behind in childhood, carried over into adulthood they quickly turn into sadism.