The Last Mistress

2007 French film

25 May 2007 (2007-05-25) (Cannes Film Festival)
30 May 2007 (2007-05-30) (France)

Running time

104 minutesCountriesFrance
ItalyLanguageFrenchBudget$5.7 million^[1]Box office$1.8 million^[2]

The Last Mistress (French: Une vieille maîtresse, literally "An old mistress") is a 2007 French-Italian film based on the novel Une vieille maîtresse by the French writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. It stars Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou as the two main characters. The movie was directed by the French filmmaker Catherine Breillat and was selected for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

In 1835 Paris, Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Aït Aattou), before marrying the young and innocent Hermangarde (Roxanne Mesquida), makes a last visit to La Vellini (Asia Argento), his Spanish mistress, to bid goodbye in an act of lovemaking. His liaison with La Vellini is the subject of Parisian gossip, and before Hermangarde's grandmother gives her blessing, she wants to hear from Ryno everything about this relationship. Ryno reveals a tempestuous story but indicates that his ten-year romance is over; he now is in love with Hermangarde. After the marriage, the newlyweds move away to a castle at the seashore. They are happy and soon Hermangarde conceives. But the "last/old mistress" reappears, and while Ryno tries to keep her out of his life, she is not to be rejected, and Hermangarde finds out about it.

Cast

Asia Argento as La Vellini
Fu'ad Aït Aattou as Ryno de Marigny
Roxane Mesquida as Hermangarde
Claude Sarraute as la marquise de Flers
Yolande Moreau as la comtesse d'Artelles
Michael Lonsdale as le vicomte de Prony
Anne Parillaud as Mme de Solcy
Jean-Philippe Tessé as le vicomte de Mareuil
Sarah Pratt as la comtesse de Mendoze
Amira Casar as Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles
Lio as The singer
Isabelle Renauld as l'arrogante
Léa Seydoux as Oliva
Nicholas Hawtrey as Sir Reginald
Caroline Ducey as la dame de Pique
Jean-Claude Binoche as le comte de Cerisy
Thomas Hardy as le valet de Mareuil
Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand as le valet de Rigny
Eric Bouhier as le chirurgien
Frédéric Botton as le cardinal de Flers

Critical reception

The movie was well received by the critics. It appeared on some critics' top 10 lists of the best films of 2008. Stephen Holden of The New York Times named it the fifth best film of the year,^[4] and Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter named it the ninth best.^[4]

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 77% of 98 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus states that "More complicated than your average bodice ripper, Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress features beautiful costumes, wrought romances, and a feral performance from Argento."^[5] Metacritic gave the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 25 critics.^[6]

References

Notes

^ JP. "Une vieille maitresse (The Last Mistress) (2007)". JPBox-Office. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
^ The Last Mistress at Box Office Mojo
^ "Festival de Cannes: The Last Mistress". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
^ "The Last Mistress". Rotten Tomatoes.
^ "The Last Mistress". Metacritic.

Bibliography

Blateau,Anne-Élisabeth. "Une vieille maîtresse sans Breillat" (A Last Mistress without Breillat), in Carré d'Art : Barbey d'Aurevilly, Byron, Dalí, Hallier, by Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Anagramme éd., Paris, 2008, pp. 143–149.