La demoiselle d'honneur (2004)

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Claude Chabrol (writer)
Pierre Leccia (writer)

Release Date:

17 November 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A hard-working young man meets and falls in love with his sister's bridesmaid. He soon finds out how disturbed she really is.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Bridesmaid | Murder | Cell Phone | Basement

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Benoît Magimel	...	Philippe Tardieu
Laura Smet	...	Stéphanie "Senta" Bellange
Aurore Clément	...	Christine
Bernard Le Coq	...	Gérard Courtois
Solène Bouton	...	Sophie Tardieu
Anna Mihalcea	...	Patricia Tardieu
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Le clochard
Suzanne Flon	...	Madame Crespin
Eric Seigne	...	Jacky
Pierre-François Dumeniaud	...	Nadeau
Philippe Duclos	...	Capitaine Dutreix
Thomas Chabrol	...	Lieutenant José Laval
Isolde Barth	...	Rita (as Isild Barth)
Mazen Kiwan	...	Pablo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chantal Banlier	...	La caissière épicerie
Jacqueline Cassard	...	Madame Bertillon
Brigitte Chamarande	...	Madame Soupin
Emmanuel Faure
Pascal Franks
Pierre Galliard
Florent Gibassier	...	Le serveur de pizza
Vincent Guillerminet
Joëlle Legua
Isabelle Leprince	...	Madame Pélissier
Isabelle Mamère	...	Nathalie Dumont
Jean-Pierre Niobe		(as Jean-Pierre Niobé)
Cécile Peroua
Taïeb		(as Taieb)
Michel Vivier

Also Known As:

Die Brautjungfer (Germany)
La damigella d'onore (Italy)
The Bridesmaid (International: English title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

France | Germany | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Brazil:16 | France:U | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Alicéléo

Trivia:

French Visa d'exploitation number 107930

no wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle, no flowers, no wedding dress...

About ten years before he decided to venture again in Ruth Rendell universe, Claude Chabrol had transferred to the screen "a Judgment in Stone" entitled "la Cérémonie" (1995). It was his last great masterwork although he somewhat betrayed the novel. The choice of Sandrine Bonnaire for the main role was ill-advised. Afterwards, his career followed a creative downswing with rather mediocre works such as "au Coeur Du Mensonge" (1999) or "Merci pour Le Chocolat" (2000). So, could a new excursion in Ruth Rendell territory boost his career again?

Alas no and the title of my summary should give you an inkling about my thoughts on the Chabrol 2004 vintage. However, there were some good elements to make the film compelling and to grab the attention. The first sequence showcases Benoît Magimel and his family in front of the TV news that reveals a murder. Perfect to weave an eerie climate. The big, imposing, eerie house in which Laura Smet lives seems to shelter dark secrets and the "bridesmaid" lives in the basement. Chabrol was also interested in the games of truth and lie that link his two main actors and real suspense lies in Magimel's personality dangerously attracted to the bridesmaid. The filmmaker's touch is also discernible at the wedding ceremony where he ridicules its crucial steps. See the church sequence and the feast which echoes to the one in "Le Boucher" (1970). While I'm evoking this meal, the gastronomy dear to Chabrol has three sequences devoted to it in the whole film. But let's come back to the bulk of the plot. Like "a Judgement in Stone", "La Demoiselle d'Honneur" was an exciting novel to read and again Chabrol skipped over some important points, notably the reasons which prompt the hero to steal the bust from Gérard Courtois (Bernard Le Coq). In the novel, he stole it because he thought that Courtois was a vulgar man, but here Magimel's motivations to steal the bust remain blurred.

The thrust of the novel and so of the film is a man who gradually loses the control of his everyday life facing a sensual, attractive disturbing young woman. However, things aren't looking good because there's an absence of unnerving climate and the scenario seems to have been sedately written, especially near the end. In another extent, I know what I'm going to write is questionable but I do think that Chabrol contemporary films suffer from the choice of the actors (see bland Jacques Dutronc in "Merci pour Le Chocolat" or Jacques Gamblin in "au Coeur Du Mensonge") and sadly "la Demoisele d'Honneur" isn't an exception to the rule. Magimel's character isn't credible at all. He should get bogged down in madness as he's deeply in love with Smet but it isn't discernible on the screen. Laura Smet (Johnny Hallyday's daughter) has a monotonous acting while Bernard Le Coq's part is underwritten. Michel Duchaussoy who was brilliant in "Que la Bête Meure" (1969) is relegated to a minor tramp role unworthy of his wide acting skills.

So, an absence of interest for this story of manipulation is surely due to its actors and also because like for "la Cérémonie", Chabrol made dull Rendell's novel. Mr Chabrol, let's put it this way: the best of your work is far behind you in time (roughly the dusk of the sixties and the dawn of the seventies) and you will probably never reach this scale again. How about contemplating retirement?