Une vieille maîtresse (2007)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Catherine Breillat

Writers:

Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (novel)
Catherine Breillat (adaptation)

Release Date:

30 May 2007 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy. |

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Opposites Attract | Period Piece | Flashback Sequence | 1830s

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Asia Argento	...	Vellini
Fu'ad Ait Aattou	...	Ryno de Marigny
Roxane Mesquida	...	Hermangarde
Claude Sarraute	...	La marquise de Flers
Yolande Moreau	...	La comtesse d'Artelles
Michael Lonsdale	...	Le vicomte de Prony
Anne Parillaud	...	Mme de Solcy
Jean-Philippe Tesse	...	Le vicomte de Mareuil
Sarah Pratt	...	La comtesse de Mendoze
Amira Casar	...	Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles
Lio	...	La chanteuse
Isabelle Renauld	...	L'arrogante
Léa Seydoux	...	Oliva
Nicholas Hawtrey	...	Sir Reginald
Caroline Ducey	...	La dame de Pique
Jean-Claude Binoche	...	Le comte de Cerisy
Thomas Hardy	...	Le valet de Mareuil
Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand	...	Le valet de Rigny
Eric Bouhier	...	Le chirurgien
Frédéric Botton	...	Le cardinal de Flers
Patrick Tétu	...	Père Griffon
Aurélien Foubert	...	Garçon d'honneur
Marie-Victoire Debré	...	La courtisane
Camille Schnebelen	...	La femme délaissée
Ashley Wanninger	...	Prétendant Vellini
Jean-François Lepetit	...	Le fou du roi
Suzanne Marty	...	La femme de chambre
Ezéquiel Spucches	...	Le pianiste
Stéphane Hausauer	...	Le valet château
Patrick Roig	...	Le médecin château
Daniel Lemoine	...	Le maître d'hôtel
Eric Turanzas	...	Le serviteur dîner
Josiane Taleux	...	La fille de cuisine
Alain Connan	...	Le vicaire
Frédéric Laforet	...	Le témoin anglais
Malika Kadri	...	La vieille Berbère
Azza Souif	...	Petite fille Vellini
Meïssa Souif	...	Petite fille Vellini

Directed by
Catherine Breillat

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly		novel
Catherine Breillat		adaptation

Produced by
Jean-François Lepetit	....	producer

Cinematography by
Giorgos Arvanitis

Film Editing by
Pascale Chavance

Casting by
Michaël Weill

Production Design by
François-Renaud Labarthe

Costume Design by
Anaïs Romand

Makeup Department
Avril Carpentier	....	additional makeup artist
Laurent Cazeau	....	key hair stylist
Dominique Colladant	....	special makeup effects artist
Sandrine Gonzales	....	makeup artist
Mélanie Queyrel	....	additional makeup artist
Françoise Quilichini	....	key makeup artist
Antonia Siliberti	....	hair stylist
Fabien Tuizat	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Christophe Antonin	....	unit manager
Jean-Louis Bergamini	....	unit production manager
Pierre Clovis	....	unit manager
Edouard Decker	....	unit manager
Eddy Jabès	....	production manager
Brigitte Mercier	....	unit manager
Julia Mongin	....	unit manager
Mathieu Roux	....	unit manager
Jean-Pierre Sachs	....	unit manager
Pierre Sandaldjian	....	unit manager
Bruno Vignier	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Guillaume Lavit d'Hautefort	....	assistant director
Johann Lorillon	....	third assistant director
Tosé Riesser	....	assistant director
Isabelle Terrissol	....	second assistant director
Zuzana Tomcalova	....	assistant director
Laurence Ursino	....	second unit director
Michaël Weill	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Vincent Amiel	....	construction coordinator
Janny Lauberton	....	property master
Stephane Condat	....	ripper (uncredited)

Sound Department
Christophe Bourreau	....	foley artist
Emmanuel Croset	....	sound mixer
Emmanuel Croset	....	sound re-recording mixer
Thierry Delor	....	foley artist
Roland Duboué	....	dialogue editor
Sylvain Lasseur	....	sound editor
Yves Lévêque	....	sound
Yves Osmu	....	sound
Stéphane Soye	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Patrick Gentils	....	special effects supervisor

Stunts
Mario Luraschi	....	horses stunts supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Léonidas Arvanitis	....	assistant camera
Loïc Bouladjat	....	electrician
Laurent Bourlier	....	key grip
Sébastien Chruscielski	....	grip
Cendrine Dedise	....	assistant camera
Messaoud Guerib	....	gaffer (as Messaoud Gherib)
Nathalie Lao	....	assistant camera
Julien Marc	....	grip
Sophie Moulin	....	additional grip
Fabienne Octobre	....	focus puller
Didier Rollot	....	gaffer (as Didier Rolot)
Emmanuel Théry	....	electrician
Christian Thurot	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Colomba Falcucci	....	casting assistant
Stéphanie Téchenet	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Karin Charpentier	....	costumer (as Karine Charpentier)
Fabienne Fouvil	....	costumer
Anu Gould	....	costumer
Brigitte Le Brigand	....	costumer
Laura Lemmetti	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Mathilde Delacroix	....	color timer
Pedro Marques	....	assistant editor
Gordana Othnin-Girard	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Angeliki Arvanitis	....	script supervisor
Michel Campioli	....	location scout
Mathilde Cukierman	....	location scout
Patrice Wolff	....	location scout

Production Companies

• Flach Film
• CB Films (co-production)
• France 3 Cinéma (co-production)
• Studio Canal (co-production)
• Buskin Film (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• TPS Star (participation)
• Région Ile-de-France (support)

Distributors

• IFC Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• IFC First Take (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• JMH Distribution (2007) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Mars Production (2007) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2007) (Canada) (theatrical) (English-speaking region)
• Métropole Films Distribution (2007) (Canada) (theatrical) (French Canada)
• Potential Films (2007) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Premium Film (2007) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Studio Canal (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix

Also Known As:

The Last Mistress (Canada: English title) (USA) (new title)
An Old Mistress (Australia) (new title)

Runtime:

104 min | South Korea:113 min | Canada:114 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:R | Taiwan:R-18 | Argentina:18 | UK:15 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | USA:Unrated | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (British Columbia)

Company:

Flach Film

Trivia:

Catherine Breillat discovered Fu'ad Ait Aattou in a Paris café.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In one shot, Asia Argento's tailbone tattoo is visible. Although tattoos were known to early 19th century Europeans (in fact, they date back before civilization), it seems improbable that Argento's character, a Spanish lady in France, was meant to have a tattoo in a design like the actress's tattoo.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Metropolis: Cannes 2007 - Special" (2007)

Twisting conventions in high style

Breillat's films are mostly small budget contemporary provocations with a feminist bent. This one, her twelfth, she says cost as much as ten previous ones and is a costume drama based on a controversial novel by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-1889). This is a bit confusing: the film begins by saying it's the century of Choderlos de Laclos (author of Dangerous Liaisons). but his famous work was written in 1782, and the action of d'Aurevilly's novel is set in 1835. The point is, the story is about the French aristocracy, and in the early nineteenth century its members still believed in and lived by the libertinism of Laclos.

In fact The Last Mistress (Une vieille maitresse) is a transitional story that links the two centuries and in a sense presents a romantic conception of the eighteenth century. Ryno de Marigny (beautiful newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou) is a high born young man who has squandered his wealth on his Spanish mistress, the willful Vellini (Asia Argento, in her element), with whom he's been involved for ten years. Allocine calls Ryno "a kind of romantic Valmont." But that's just it: there was nothing romantic about de Laclos' cruel and manipulative Valmont and Ryno is a new post-eighteenth-century conception of the eighteenth-century libertine that is titillated by his freedom but adds the emotional dressing of romantic passion. Breillat obviously loves this combination, is at home with it, and has given it deliriously appropriate treatment in this minor but beautiful, lush, and thoroughly enjoyable film.

The Breillat touch is perhaps most visible in the love-making scenes between Vellini and Ryno, in which there is much nudity and specificity of physical detail. Fu'ad Ait Aattou has pale skin and bigger lips than Asia Argento. By intention, both are androgynous; this is Breillat's conception of Choderlos de Laclos's and d'Aurevilly's libertines. The two actors are perfectly matched for this. Vellini is the aggressor; it is she who makes love with Ryno, using him like a lovely male statue made of alabaster. He is passionate like a romantic lover, however: that is, he's hung up on her forever, no matter what he tries. Early on, he fights a duel with her English husband and is wounded in the shoulder. The sex sequences are specific and fleshy as in no other costume drama, but Breillat is not creating an anachronistic work. As she explained in the NYFF press Q&A, she is passionate about the quality of her period detail and bought tons of lush materials and costumes. The dress, the jewelry, and the interiors are all completely authentic, and there is a rich color scheme in which red and green and yellow predominate. Without seeming over-glossy (it's not eye-candy like Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette), The Last Mistress is a pleasure to look at. It's also a pleasure to listen to, with its choice use of ornate and witty language. Oldtimer Michael Lonsdale as the gossipy Le vicomte de Prony particularly relishes his well-turned phrases.

As the story gets under way, Ryno has now found a wife, the beautiful young blonde noblewoman Hermangarde (Breillat regular Roxane Mesquida), and he's in love with her, and tired of Villini. Hermangarde's grandmother, the Marquise de Flers (non-actress Claude Sarraute, daughter of novelist Nathalie) is responsible for vetting Ryno, and in a lengthy sequence that's the heart of the film, he confesses to her everything about his relationship with Vellini. After much has been told (and shown on screen) in an amusing moment we see the Marquise reclining low in her seat: she is exhausted, but entranced. She wants to hear every detail. The Marquise is of course, of the older generation--a real Choderlos de Laclos lady. For her, the information that Ryno is a true libertine is proof that he is reliable, not an unknown quantity. And the cards are on the table. He'll do.

Rybno has every intention of having done with Vellini, and in a scene we've observed before his confession, he's made love with her one last time and they've said their adieus and adioses. Afrter his marriage, which we don't see, Ryno and Hermangarde live in a castle by the sea--so that he can avoid the temptations of Paris. Velllini waits four months, and then she appears. And once she is in front of Ryno, despite his professions of being fed up with her, he can't resist her.

There are several scenes in which Vellini draws blood from Ryno and licks it up: hints or Ms. Argento's father's films? Part of the New York Film Festival 2007. Three years after a stroke, Breillat is clearly in fine form--never better--and this is a long-awaited (by her) labor of love.