The Last Mistress
| The Last Mistress | |
|---|---|
theatrical poster
|
|
| Directed by | Catherine Breillat |
| Produced by | Jean-Francois Lepetit |
| Written by | Catherine Breillat |
| Based on | Une vieille maîtresse by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly |
| Starring | Asia Argento Fu'ad Aït Aattou Roxane Mesquida |
| Cinematography | Yorgos Arvanitis |
| Edited by | Pascale Chavance |
| Distributed by | StudioCanal |
|
Release dates
|
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
|
Running time
|
104 minutes |
| Country | France Italy |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $5.7 million[1] |
| Box office | $1.8 million[2] |
The Last Mistress (French: Une vieille maîtresse, literally "An old mistress") is a 2007 French-Italian film based on the novel Une vieille maîtresse by the French writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. It stars Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou as the two main characters. The movie was directed by the French filmmaker Catherine Breillat and was entered into the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
Plot
In 1835 Paris, Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Aït Aattou), before getting married to the young and innocent Hermangarde (Roxanne Mesquida), makes a last visit to La Vellini (Asia Argento), his Spanish mistress, to bid goodbye in an act of lovemaking. His liaison with La Vellini is the subject of Parisian gossip, and before Hermangarde's grandmother gives her blessing, she wants to hear from Ryno everything about this relationship. Ryno reveals a tempestuous story but indicates that his ten-year romance is over; he now is in love with Hermangarde. After the marriage, the newlyweds move away to a castle at the seashore. They are happy and soon Hermangarde conceives. But the "last/old mistress" reappears, and while Ryno tries to keep her out of his life, she is not to be rejected, and Hermangarde finds out about it.
Cast
|
|
Critical reception
The movie was well received by the critics. It appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Stephen Holden of The New York Times named it the fifth best film of the year,[4] and Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter named it the ninth best.[4]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 77% of 94 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus states that "More complicated than your average bodice ripper, Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress features beautiful costumes, wrought romances, and a feral performance from Argento."[5] Metacritic gave the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 25 critics.[6]
References
- Notes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Last Mistress at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/une_vieille_maitresse/?search=The%20Last%20Mistress
- ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-last-mistress
- Bibliography
Blateau, Anne-Elisabeth. "Une vieille maîtresse sans Breillat" (A Last Mistress without Breillat), in Carré d'Art : Barbey d'Aurevilly, Byron, Dalí, Hallier, by Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Anagramme éd., Paris, 2008, pp. 143–149.
External links
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). The Last Mistress at IMDb
- The Last Mistress at AllMovie
- The Last Mistress at Box Office Mojo
- Une vieille maîtresse at Films de France
- Cannes Festival press kit
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- Use dmy dates from November 2015
- 2007 films
- French-language films
- Articles containing French-language text
- French films
- Italian films
- 2000s historical films
- Erotic romance films
- Films based on French novels
- Films based on works by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly
- Films directed by Catherine Breillat
- French historical films
- Italian historical films
- Films set in the 1830s
