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IMDbPro

The Last Mistress

Original title: Une vieille maîtresse
  • 20072007
  • UnratedUnrated
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
11,762
545
Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou in The Last Mistress (2007)
This is the theatrical trailer for Catherine Breillat's The Last Mistress, starring Asia Argento.
Play trailer1:43
1 Video
19 Photos
DramaRomance
Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
11,762
545
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Catherine Breillat
    • Writers
      • Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly(novel)
      • Catherine Breillat(adaptation)
    • Stars
      • Asia Argento
      • Fu'ad Aït Aattou
      • Roxane Mesquida
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Catherine Breillat
    • Writers
      • Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly(novel)
      • Catherine Breillat(adaptation)
    • Stars
      • Asia Argento
      • Fu'ad Aït Aattou
      • Roxane Mesquida
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 28User reviews
    • 96Critic reviews
    • 78Metascore
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations

    Videos1

    The Last Mistress: Theatrical Trailer
    Trailer 1:43
    The Last Mistress: Theatrical Trailer

    Photos19

    Catherine Breillat in The Last Mistress (2007)
    The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento in The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento in The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou in The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou in The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento in The Last Mistress (2007)
    The Last Mistress (2007)
    The Last Mistress (2007)
    The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento and Léa Seydoux in The Last Mistress (2007)
    Asia Argento and Léa Seydoux in The Last Mistress (2007)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Asia Argento
    Asia Argento
    • Vellini
    Fu'ad Aït Aattou
    Fu'ad Aït Aattou
    • Ryno de Marigny
    Roxane Mesquida
    Roxane Mesquida
    • Hermangarde
    Claude Sarraute
    • La marquise de Flers
    Yolande Moreau
    Yolande Moreau
    • La comtesse d'Artelles
    Michael Lonsdale
    Michael Lonsdale
    • Le vicomte de Prony
    Anne Parillaud
    Anne Parillaud
    • Mme de Solcy
    Jean-Philippe Tesse
    • Le vicomte de Mareuil
    Sarah Pratt
    • La comtesse de Mendoze
    Amira Casar
    Amira Casar
    • Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles
    Caroline Ducey
    Caroline Ducey
    • La dame de Pique
    Lio
    Lio
    • La chanteuse
    Isabelle Renauld
    Isabelle Renauld
    • L'arrogante
    Nicholas Hawtrey
    • Sir Reginald
    Léa Seydoux
    Léa Seydoux
    • Oliva
    Frédéric Botton
    • Le cardinal de Flers
    Jean-Claude Binoche
    • Le comte de Cerisy
    Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand
    • Valet Ryno
    • Director
      • Catherine Breillat
    • Writers
      • Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly(novel)
      • Catherine Breillat(adaptation)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Catherine Breillat discovered Fu'ad Aït Aattou in a Paris café.
    • Goofs
      While Ryno is descending the stairs at the opera, an Edgar Degas mural can be seen. Degas would have only just been born in this era.
    • Connections
      Featured in Metropolis: Cannes 2007 - Special (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Yes Sir
      By Ralph Benatzky

      Performed by Lio

    User reviews28

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    Beautiful and elegant
    Milan Kundera writes: "Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition." Case in point, Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou), an impoverished but elegantly handsome young man who is trapped between the aristocratic world to which he aspires, and an obsessive bond with a defiantly independent mistress, the boldly seductive Vellini (Asia Argento), an older but dazzling Spanish woman said to be born of an Italian noblewoman and a bullfighter. Adapted from a 19th-century novel Une vieille maîtresse by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, Catherine Breillat's beautiful and elegant The Last Mistress, challenges the patriarchal assumptions of the age by depicting a 36-year old woman's right to fully express her sexual desires even if it is means flaunting society's conventions and Christian misogynist teachings.

    Set in Paris in 1835, complete with elaborate period costumes and sumptuously decorated drawing rooms, the film opens with the gossip between two aging aristocrats, the Vicomte de Prony (Michael Lonsdale) and his wife, the Countess d'Artelles (Yolande Moreau about the ten-year affair between de Marigny and Vellini and the young man's impending marriage to the wealthy Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). Hermangarde's grandmother La marquise de Flers, excellently played by the 80-year-old French writer Claude Sarrate, is an open-minded and rational individual who claims to be a woman of the 18th century. Worried that Ryno will not be able to get over his passion for his fiery Spanish mistress, de Flers listens attentively as Ryno relates to her the details of his long relationship, an affair that he says has now come to an end, telling her that "You don't betray a new love with an old mistress".

    In flashback, Ryno relates how he was overcome by Vellini's wild beauty after they were introduced at a party ten years before. Vellini, then married to a wealthy but dull Englishman, reacts negatively, however, when she overhears Ryno call her an ugly mutt and the young man is forced to vigorously pursue her despite her strong objections, forcing her to kiss him while the two are out riding. Her horrified husband witnesses the act and challenges Ryno to a duel the next morning. After deliberately missing his first shot, Ryno is shot in the chest, a wound from which he will take months to recover. The incident, however, triggers Vellini's awareness of her love for Ryno, exotically announced by her sucking the blood from the gaping hole in his chest.

    De Flers presses Ryno for the details of their life together during the past ten years but the dramatic story is better left for the viewer to discover. When the film returns to present time, de Marigny and Hermangarde are married and ostensibly in love, yet he struggles to keep his word to her grandmother by moving away from the temptations of Paris to a remote seacoast. The cigar-smoking temptress, however, also loves the fresh sea air and the stage is set for the film's final act. The Last Mistress is an outstanding work of art that is strengthened immeasurably by striking performances by Asia Argento and first-time actor Fu'ad Ait Aattou. Argento fully captures Vellini's sexual assertiveness but tempers her incendiary disposition with naturalism and a tenderness that makes us care about her fate.

    Aattou, discovered by Breillat in a crowded café, is almost feminine in appearance with overly thick lips and sensitive eyes, yet he brings a masculine determination to the role that makes him completely convincing. Like the recent film by Jacques Rivette, The Duchess of Langeais, in The Last Mistress love becomes a contest of wills, a power struggle between two people whose relationship consists of a tug of war not only between domination and submission but between 18th and 19th century social codes. That Breillat makes the ride so entrancing is a tribute to her enormous talent.
    helpful•20
    4
    • howard.schumann
    • Aug 10, 2008

    FAQ1

    • Is "The Last Mistress" based on a book?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 18, 2008 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Italy
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Metres
    • Filming locations
      • Île de Bréhat, Côtes-d'Armor, France
    • Production companies
      • Flach Film
      • CB Films
      • France 3 Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $6,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $785,671
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $33,554
      • Jun 29, 2008
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,831,577
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 55 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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