The Bridesmaid (2004)
"La demoiselle d'honneur" (original title)

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

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Claude Chabrol, Pierre Leccia,

Stars:

Benoît Magimel, Laura Smet, Aurore Clément

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

A middle class family in Loire, where things seem just a tad off kilter. Philippe dotes on his mother, who has raised his two sisters and him. Gérard, a wealthy man just divorced, is paying attention to her, then drops her. Philippe is actually pleased, and retrieves from Gérard's garden a stone head - of the goddess Flora - that his mother had given Gérard. At the wedding of one of his sisters, Philippe meets Senta, a quirky and moody young woman: they fall quickly in love, despite her odd behaviors and Philippe's general good sense. Senta announces a plan for them to prove their love to each other; it involves poetry, tree planting, and murder. What will Philippe do?

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Plot Keywords:

love | bridesmaid | murder | cell phone | basement | 

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Genres:

Thriller | Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

France Germany Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

17 November 2004 (France)

Also Known As:

The Bridesmaid

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,046 (USA) (4 August 2006)

Gross:

$111,143 (USA) (19 January 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alicéléo, Canal Diffusion, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There are four members of the Chabrol family in the crew : Claude's two sons ( actor Thomas and composer Matthew ), his wife ( scipt supervisor Aurore ) and his stepdaughter ' first assistant Cécile Maistre )

User Reviews

La Demoiselle d'Honneur

Having read the book 'The Bridesmaid', I was gratified that this film was a very good representation of it. It kept close to the story and did not alter anything. Even though my image of Senta as she is portrayed in the book was different to that of the one in the film, it didn't matter as her personality was accurately portrayed - indeed, all the characters were excellent. Benoit Magimel was exactly how I imagined the main character, both in looks and behaviour.

The impact of the events would have been greater to those who haven't read the book (ie I knew what was going to happen) but I found it satisfying and would highly recommend this film.

Ruth Rendell's plots are so clever, with a twist in the tail, and it is important that a film captures this, and Chabrol manages it perfectly.