The Bridesmaid
From the minute it starts you know something bad is going to happen in Claude Chabrol's latest film (released in the US). The foreboding music says it all and it is, after all, based on a book by suspense writer Ruth Rendell.
The film starts out with the straigtlaced Phillipe (Benoit Magimel) and his sisters (the soon to be married) Sophie (Solene Bouton) and Patricia (Anna Mihalcea) getting ready to go out for the evening with their mother Christine (Aurore Clement). They are going to meet Christine's new love interest Gerard (Bernard Le Coq). It is important to note that while they are getting ready to leave the siblings are watching a news report on television about a missing woman. Phillipe doesn't want to hear about it and shuts off the television.
Before they leave for Gerard's Christine decides that she wants to give him a statue of a woman they call Flora. She asks Phillipe if it is okay to do so and he says yes but we can see that he has reservations. I was wondering why a young man with a successful career would live at home with his mother and sisters but it is quite apparent that Phillipe's relationship with his mother has Oedipal overtones.
A few days later the people in Sophie's bridal party come to the house to try on their gowns and tuxedos. Senta (Laura Smet), who is one of Sophie's bridesmaids and her soon to be husband's cousin, catches Phillipe's eye. When they next meet at the wedding sparks really fly. Although they think that it is love at first sight I would say that it is more likely lust at first sight. Within a short amount of time they embark on a torrid affair and proclaim that they cannot live without each other. They really are opposites in so many ways ( Phillipe is overly neat and Senta seems like a slob) but they say opposites attract.
But there is much more to Senta than meets the eye and we don't know how much of what she tells Phillipe is actually true (she is supposedly an actress). She insists that in order to prove you really love someone there are four things you must do. One of those things is that you must kill someone.
To say anything else about the film would be giving too much away. The film is very well directed and written and all of the acting is good. Magimel really captures a man in the throes of despair. And Smet (who is the daughter of Nathalie Baye and Johnny Hallyday) sizzles on the screen. Chabrol is a master when it comes to making dark, psychological thrillers and this one is no exception. When I left the theater I thought about the ending and decided that it meant that things turned out a certain way. When I started to think about it more I thought that maybe they turned out another way. But I finally decided that my first interpretation was right. I would like to discuss the film with other people who have seen it to see what they think. But it doesn't matter because any film that makes you think (like this one does) is worth seeing.
The film starts out with the straigtlaced Phillipe (Benoit Magimel) and his sisters (the soon to be married) Sophie (Solene Bouton) and Patricia (Anna Mihalcea) getting ready to go out for the evening with their mother Christine (Aurore Clement). They are going to meet Christine's new love interest Gerard (Bernard Le Coq). It is important to note that while they are getting ready to leave the siblings are watching a news report on television about a missing woman. Phillipe doesn't want to hear about it and shuts off the television.
Before they leave for Gerard's Christine decides that she wants to give him a statue of a woman they call Flora. She asks Phillipe if it is okay to do so and he says yes but we can see that he has reservations. I was wondering why a young man with a successful career would live at home with his mother and sisters but it is quite apparent that Phillipe's relationship with his mother has Oedipal overtones.
A few days later the people in Sophie's bridal party come to the house to try on their gowns and tuxedos. Senta (Laura Smet), who is one of Sophie's bridesmaids and her soon to be husband's cousin, catches Phillipe's eye. When they next meet at the wedding sparks really fly. Although they think that it is love at first sight I would say that it is more likely lust at first sight. Within a short amount of time they embark on a torrid affair and proclaim that they cannot live without each other. They really are opposites in so many ways ( Phillipe is overly neat and Senta seems like a slob) but they say opposites attract.
But there is much more to Senta than meets the eye and we don't know how much of what she tells Phillipe is actually true (she is supposedly an actress). She insists that in order to prove you really love someone there are four things you must do. One of those things is that you must kill someone.
To say anything else about the film would be giving too much away. The film is very well directed and written and all of the acting is good. Magimel really captures a man in the throes of despair. And Smet (who is the daughter of Nathalie Baye and Johnny Hallyday) sizzles on the screen. Chabrol is a master when it comes to making dark, psychological thrillers and this one is no exception. When I left the theater I thought about the ending and decided that it meant that things turned out a certain way. When I started to think about it more I thought that maybe they turned out another way. But I finally decided that my first interpretation was right. I would like to discuss the film with other people who have seen it to see what they think. But it doesn't matter because any film that makes you think (like this one does) is worth seeing.
posted by Film Fanatic | 6:41 PM
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