La belle captive (1983)

Walter is told by his boss, Sara, to deliver an urgent letter to Henri de Corinthe. On the way he finds a beautiful woman he had been eying in a nightclub, lying in the road, bound up. He ... See full summary »

Director:

Alain Robbe-Grillet

Writers:

Alain Robbe-Grillet, Frank Verpillat (adaptation)

Stars:

Daniel Mesguich, Cyrielle Clair, Daniel Emilfork

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Daniel Mesguich	...	Walter Raim
Cyrielle Clair	...	Sara Zeitgeist
Daniel Emilfork	...	Inspector Francis
François Chaumette	...	Dr. Morgentodt
Gabrielle Lazure	...	Marie-Ange van de Reeves
Gilles Arbona	...	Le barman
Arielle Dombasle	...	La femme hystérique
Jean-Claude Leguay	...	Le cycliste
Nancy Van Slyke	...	La serveuse
Denis Fouqueray	...	Le valet (as Denis Foucray)
Michel Auclair	...	La voix de Walter, off (voice)
Roland Dubillard	...	Prof van de Reeves
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guy Bonnafoux	...	Un homme en smoking

Storyline

Walter is told by his boss, Sara, to deliver an urgent letter to Henri de Corinthe. On the way he finds a beautiful woman he had been eying in a nightclub, lying in the road, bound up. He takes her to a villa to get a doctor, and ends up being locked in a bedroom with her. While she is making love to him, he has visions of surrealistic images from René Magritte's paintings. In the morning, the girl, Marie-Ange, has vanished, the villa looks derelict, and his neck is bleeding. Was it all just a nightmare?

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | female frontal nudity | reference to magritte | sex

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 February 1983 (France)

Also Known As:

The Beautiful Prisoner

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films, France 3 (FR 3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Marie-Ange van de Reeves: I'll find you if I need to. Maybe tonight. Maybe never. Or maybe yesterday. Time doesn't exist for me.

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Soundtracks

"Le quinzième quatuor (Streichquartett Nr. 15 op. 161. D. 887)"
Written by Franz Schubert (as Schubert)
Performed by Alban Berg Quartett (as Alban Berg Quartet)
EMI CO 6903832

User Reviews

An erotic, virtual reality puzzle for the adventurous viewer...

LA BELLE CAPTIVE may be Robbe-Grillet's most entertaining and accomplished film. It dazzles the eye by creating a series of secret encounters inspired by Magritte's surrealist painting, which the director named his film after. You don't have to know anything about art to enjoy this film, though. Motifs from vampire films and erotic thrillers are interwoven with more hermetic scenes, but it's somehow all held together by the repeated image of a black clad woman riding a motorcycle. The central situation of a man on a mysterious sexual mission and some individual scenes bear a striking resemblance to Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT (1999).