Reviews (4)

Powerful Recreation of the Middle Ages
Beatrice awaits her father and brothers return from war. The family fortune has dwindled but Beatrice looks after the castle and its surrounding farmlands the best she can. These early scenes have a beauty and magic to them and Julie Delpy's etheral beauty seems perfectly at home in this setting. Her world is charmed with wonder and she looks destined to live the romantic life of princess. It seems all that is missing is a father to restore the castle to its former glory. The longer he is gone the more Beatrice idealises this man she never knew. When word reaches her that he is on his way back she is ecstatic. Meanwhile we see what kind of man he is. From the first glimpse Tavernier gives us of him we know he is not what Beatrice imagines him to be. As they welcome the father and his band of soldiers into the castle and feed him someone asks to hear of his exploits...a silence fills the room. Reluctantly he begins to tell a tale quite different than the one the listeners expected to hear. We soon realize a more disillusioned man never walked the earth than this man. He paces the halls of the castle like an animal hungry for prey. Nothing is sacred to him, nothing safe from him. Religion nor family hold any sway over him, he takes what he wants & the biggest prize in the castle is Beatrice. This homecoming begins to feel like a state of seige. It is not long before the prize is forcibly claimed.

Beatrice pleads with the priest for protection but he will do nothing that might offend the Lord of the castle. In fact its Beatrice who is blamed for her fathers actions. Her only ally proves to be a female witch and witchcraft in this film seems to be the one activity available for women to feel powerful and it proves to be quite seductive to helpless Beatrice. Tavernier seems to be saying that once a man loses faith his capacity for destruction is limitless. The father defies every natural law and in so doing seems to beg for someone to destroy him once and for all. And finally someone does.

In other films Tavernier has dealt with family dysfunction in a profound way (The Clockmaker) but this goes well beyond mere dysfunction. There is something compelling about this recreation of the middle ages as it seems to capture the essence and contradictions of the time--and even offer a very modern way of explaining why such forces co-existed.

It's not all Prince Charmings and Happily Ever Afters
This movie disturbed me but was still unbelievably compelling to watch as the three main characters, the father, the son, and the daughter wage an internal war upon each other.

The father and son return after an humiliating experience at war only to find that the battle continues with each other at home. The son is constantly berated by the father for his shortcomings. The father forces the daughter to express the same emotions of compassion and love she shows to her brother to him. What ends up happening is a fierce battle of strength versus intelligence.

A disturbing, compelling, and haunting movie. Be warned, it's not for all tastes.

Offbeat, ritualistic medieval classic
I've watched this film many times, and it never fails to move me. It has the aura of ritual -- as when the father points to his heart and says "Here" before his daughter stabs him, a death he has surely earned. Is this what he has desired all along? Did she have to dress up in her disgraced brother's clothes before being capable of murder? Etc. This film is so un-PC, the viewer might be best off seeing it as an exploitation movie gone arty and strange. Best witch-burning sequence ever. Best dirt-eating. Best ancient castle with hand-held chase scenes. Magnificent acting. Won't bore you for a second, that's for sure. The real thing without any cinematic cliches. Compare to "The Devils" or "The Return of Martin Guerre."

Beatrice (French title: La Passion Beatrice)
This film is well acted and well directed; however, emotionally it is VERY difficult to watch. The father in the film is a full-blown psychopath. It's hard to say which is more horrifying: his emotional abuse of his son or the sexual abuse of his daughter. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this film was, unless it was to de-romanticize the Middle Ages; in this, it certainly succeeds. I do have to give director Tavernier credit for an honest treatment of child abuse in all its revolting reality. Watch it only if you have a strong stomach. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Enchanting tragi-melodrama.
'Mina Tannenbaum' charts the prickly relationship from birth of the title character, the precociously-talented artist child of Jewish concentration camp survivors, and her friend, plump, pretty bookworm Ethel. They first meet at a ballet class reluctantly attended by a pubertal Mina who sabotages it, and we watch them at significant turning points in their lives - as love-struck adolescents agonising over their first romances, Mina falling for a renowned Lothario in her art class, and Ethel smitten by a smooth-talking restaurant pianist; as young adults at the outset of their careers, Mina staging her first post-student exhibition hoping to attract dealers, and Ethel resorting to underhand means to further her jounalistic ambitions. These personal dramas seem to be played out against key dates in French and European history - e.g. 1958 (the year of de Gaulle's return to power), 1968 (students' and workers' strikes and demonstrations); 1989 (fall of Communism). The film signals the changing times through the usual signifiers (hair, clothes etc.), but also the differing social expectations of femininity (e.g. overweight Ethel becomes pencil-thin, mini-skirted and bottle-blonde in the 80s).

But the most important historical context is the girls' Jewish heritage as probably the first generation not to directly experience the Holocaust, but living under its debilitating shadow. Both girls have complex relationships with their mothers, Mina's especially devastated by her experience in the death camps; both at different times try to cast off their Jewishness, shown in their dissatisfaction with their looks and appearance. One of the film's running themes - centring on authenticity, imitation, reproduction, presence/absence - connects all these disparate elements: the girls' friendship and identity crises, their careers and relationships, the historical milieux (the move from history to postmodernity), the media/marketplace, family and Jewishness.

In order to capture the complexity of the girls' personalities, and the various external and internal pressures exerted on them, the film adopts a complex mode of narration. It is framed as a parodic documentary about Mina the famous artist, narrated by a bimbo cousin who pops up throughout the film, bridging chronolgocial gaps, explaining unstated motivations etc. (other figures act as Greek choruses throughout too). Within the narrative, however, the girls' own subjectivity filters the storytelling, breaking its linear movement with visualisations of their emotions (for instance a teenage argument in a bar is shadowed by the girls' self-idealised projections in forties finery catfighting behind them) or by interweaving through time, meeting previous/future selves. Further, their paralell stories are often narrated by one to the other, which they often correct, elide or gloss, with the viewer allowed to see various conflicting versions of the same event. Add to this the other media of representation that may or may not express various emotional states - paintings, TV shows, pop songs etc. This conflict between word and image plays out the drama between the writer and the artists, and the betrayals of their respective arts.

In its mix of whimsy and subjectivity, of a mythical vision of Paris and special effects projecting interior states unavailable to realism, of its tuneful melancholy score and arch narration, 'Mina' seems to prefigure 'Amelie'. This film is much less comfortable in tone, however, its manipulative charm often turning sour, its soap opera always teetering on tragedy, its romantic verve darkening into a sense of Jewish anguish striving for the Kafkaesque, the glossily-imagined present haunted by the crippling past. 'Mina', with its Chinese-box examination of a great figure's life through the biased witness of those who knew her, is also a female-centred 'Citizen Kane', similarly finding its Rosebud in a once-cherished token of childhood discarded in an artwork-crammed dumping ground. Agnes Varda's polemical folly 'One Sings, The Other Doesn't' is more realistically updated too. It doesn't always work, but all these tensions make for fascinating and captivating viewing, and if the director is particularly unfair on Ethel, ditching the complex earlier character for 80s caricature, the extraordinary acting keeps you hooked throughout.

with friends like these ...
Martine Dugowson's film about 2 French friends is cluttered with arthouse stylistics which work against the great heart of the characters. What begins as a slight and offputting experience gathers weight as the film progresses and reaches a touching climax. There is nothing queer about these two women's relationship but there is purity and truth in the performances. Romane Bohringer from Savage Nights is the painter Mina, who identifies with Bette Davis' Mildred from Of Human Bondage, and Elisa Zylberstein is Ethel, who identifies with Rita Hayworth's Gilda. Dugowson intercuts footage from these classic films to demonstrate both her film school mentality and an identity metaphor. The women's friendship continues in their lifetimes and is the constant when lovers, jobs and hairstyles come and go. The film is also an exploration of being Jewish since Mina's mother is a Holocaust survivor and Ethel's wants her to marry in faith. In an amusing cafe scene fantasy Mina is Yentl and Ethel is a whore. This is the kind of film that you want to view straight away again because by the end you've become so fond of the characters, which is both a compliment and an insult to the director. (An insult because one viewing is satisfying enough). We get a swirling black sea which is revealed to be coffee, and a character walking by garbage before we are shown the teardrop-shaped facial disfigurement they have suffered.

Mina est Magnifique!
This movie is great, the actresses are wonderful, Bohringer does an amazing job as Mina, especially with her final scence. The soundtrack to the movie is great too. I was moved to buy a Dalida CD after hearing "Il venait d'avoir 18 ans" in the movie (its in the scene where Ethel is lip-synching as well as Mina's final scene). This movie makes a person think long and hard about just how important friendship is. Anybody who either speaks French or loves foreign movies owes it to themselves to see this film.

Best French Film on Female Friendship
Like others, I accidentally stumbled upon this movie on a WorldView/PBS type channel. It is such a powerful story of the truth of female best friends. We love them, we fight with them, and we cannot possibly live without them. Sometimes, as this movie points out, to the extreme. When the rest of the world falls away, Mina and Ethel had each other. Mina was the talented and difficult artist and Ethel was the once chubby, later ascerbic hopeful writer. Their friendship began as children and the movie takes us through their twenties and into their early thirties. Including many tender moments of togetherness and bitter moments of being apart. In each character you will find something of yourself, even on the unpleasant side, and you cannot help but become endeared to each one. Sometimes our friends are the only honest and constant thing in our lives and often when we realize how much they mean, it is too late and they are gone.

One of the best movies
I too accidentally watched this movie on a public international channel as I was switching through television stations.

I was very moved by this movie. I enjoyed how the director delved into the friendship and the changes the women went through. I laughed throughout the movie and cried a lot as the movie ended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Diane Kurys's 1983 film Entre Nous is a heartfelt love story about two women in postwar Lyon, France. Lena and Madeleine (Miou-Miou and Isabelle Huppert) are two young women living with the results of the desperate choices they made in order to survive the war against Germany. In 1952, Lena has two girls with the man who rescued her from the Jewish encampment; an enlisted man whose surname was supposed to offer her peace and security. Madeleine's love was shot to death days after their wedding as German soldiers crossed the demarcation line and came into town to take Jewish citizens to the concentration camps. Ten years later, she is now married unhappily to Costa (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a rogue who is forever trying to get rich on whatever scam he can concoct. The two young women meet at their children's school recital and become friends as each attempts to find fulfillment. As their friendship grows, they dream of opening a boutique together until their marriages, and subsequent financial security, deteriorate and the only comfort they can find is in each other's arms. Audiences may recognize Isabelle Huppert from Heaven's Gate and Madame Bovary and Kurys's work from A Man in Love. --Michele Goodson ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A Moving and Complex Tale of Emotion ...
The beuty of the film lies in its subtle power to transmit the complexity of when family obligations come in the way of self-fullfilment. The film is based on the true story of the the film maker's mother and was a cathartic process for Kurys, who was very close to her father and mourned his seperation from her life. Kurys exhaults her mother's strength and independace in the face of 1950s tradition but does not entirely pardon her for splitting up the family. The narritive is also a feminist consciousness-raising exercise to the extent that it invites the spectator to share in the protagonists' growing awareness of their unsatisfactory lives as married women in the pre-feminist patriarchal world of the 1950s. And though Kurys maintains that her mother's relationship with her female remained platonic, the movie is full of shared looks and pauses that suggest a desire between the two women. the intensity of the their attraction (wether platonic or otherwise) is expressed through the small seemingly meaningless phrases that we utter when we are overrun with emotion. One may postulate that had the relationship between the two women evovled in a different time where the idea of a lesbian affair would not have been so 'unthinkable' their feelings could have bloosemed into a sexual affair.

The French Before the Invited the Manage a Trois.
This movie is frustrating because it was apparently fimed before the French invited the Menage A Trois. Here you have two guys who are total .... I ask you, if you were married to Isabelle Huppert, would you act like this [guy] in the movie? Here is what I get from this movie: Never lose your temper, never slap your wife, never yell at your wife, never complain to your wife, and, most importantly, when your wife has sex with another woman, don't get mad, just beg to watch, okay. Now, I am not a .... I get it.

Entre Nous - The power of feminism
This movie is one of the top 10 in my list. It describes the special nature of female-female friendships and how we women have to rely on each other to survive the slings and arrows of an outrageous patriarchy. However, the movie does, unfairly I think, portray men in a rather negative light. This is just not realistic in the global perspective. On the other hand, if I had a daughter, I would make sure that she owned this DVD. The players in this movie are fantabulous actresses. The plot is believable. The direction and cinematography are a cut above the norm. I would rate this 6 stars if I could.

masterful storytelling
A masterclass in telling the story in pictures.

...You hardly need the subtitles, so nuanced is Kurys direction.
There are some wonderful comic moments which I will not spoil by detailing them. As there are also some of fury and despair. Kurys has the rare talent of discovering emotion by using just the precise angle and detail of the actor's body so that it will echo in us.

It is a story of Kurys own mother and her best friends' struggles to live in the sunlight of their friendship. There is not a badly made scene in the whole movie.
You will weep at the final comment (printed, not spoken) by the director about the absolute choice the two women had to make in the light of the morality of the time.

I guarantee you will have to watch it again.

I have to say that the transfer to DVD has left a few ragged edges around the vision and sound in some places. As a result the DVD can only have 4 1/2 stars.

Entre Nous
This movie is definitely a love story between two women, regardless of what Isabella from Texas (say no more)wants to believe. I think she needs to watch the movie again and this time, read the subtitles. I originally viewed this movie on A&E in the mid 80's and specifically remember reading that the director is one of "Lena's" daughters. I am not saying that two women would leave their husbands and live together for years, and not be lesbians, however, the odds are quite remote. Having lived in the gay community for 25 years, I think I know a lesbian subtext when I see it. It is really sad that someone who is heterosexual wants to deny we lesbians our love stories. It is especially pathetic when we are constantly bombared with heterosexual everything. I think any lesbian and enlightend straight women would love this movie as much as I did. This is definitely a "must see" for lesbians and all thoe straight women out there who cannot stand their husbands. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Lots of Silly Fun!
The whole premise behind the 570 musketeer films that have been released thus far (Dec. 2003) is pretty flimsy, and the premise behind this one is among the flimsiest. BUT--for people who like to watch adventure-comedies in which beautiful women kick butt, this belongs on your shelf beside the CHARLIE'S ANGELS films. The chief advantage this film has over other members of this genre is that it stars the ever-adorable Sophie Marceau. We get to see her fence with evil-doers and have a tender moment or two with her aging father, the famous D'Artagnan. The script is better than average, and the film contains many other scenes that are enjoyable in various ways. Finally, if you happen to like "musketeer films," this one is far better than the half dozen big-budget productions that have come out of Hollywood in the past few years. (Sorry, Leonardo. Yours stank, despite its high-powered cast.)

Revenge of the Musketeers
The comic tone of the film disappointed me. I adore Sophie Marceau, but her talent was unnecessary for this piece. And the needless breast-bearing was insulting. Comedy should be used to tell the story in period films - not be the story. I should have suspected something foul from a film francais with an English title.

Marceau Carries The Day
The spirit of Dumas is alive and well as D'Artagnan and his three legendary companions regroup and once again go forth in defense of the Crown in "Revenge of the Musketeers," directed by Bertrand Tavernier. This time around, however, it's D'Artagnan's daughter, Eloise (Sophie Marceau), who sounds the alarm after witnessing a cold-blooded murder at the convent she has called home these many years, having been raised there while her father was off on one adventure after another in service to the King. And it's the King for whom Eloise is concerned; in the wake of the murder, she has uncovered a conspiracy to assassinate the about-to-be-crowned Louis XIV during his coronation. Her evidence is a cryptic message discovered among the personal effects of the recently deceased resident of the convent. So throwing caution to the wind, Eloise takes to horseback, alone, to seek out her father and inform him of this threat to France and the King. What she doesn't know is that D'Artagnan (Philippe Noiret) has recently withdrawn from the service of the King, and not by his own choosing. It seems that the King-to-be is something of an upstart, the fact of which D'Artagnan conveyed to him personally-- in no uncertain terms-- after which the now former Musketeer retired to private life to give lessons in the art of swordsmanship. All of which is about to change with the arrival of the daughter he hasn't seen for many years, and who to his knowledge is still safely ensconced in the convent.

To successfully present yet another episode of "The Three Musketeers," it must have that certain sense of bold carelessness born of confidence and larger-than-life adventure, and Tavernier's film has it. Though it takes a couple of scenes to find it's legs after an intense opening that makes you sit up and take notice, when it finally kicks in (which it does fairly quickly) it becomes a rousing adventure steeped in the tradition of it's predecessors. And, as in the best of the "Musketeer" movies, it's laced with subtle humor and intrigue. Tavernier sets a pace that is at times inconsistent, but he provides enough action and fun that it can be easily overlooked; it may threaten to stall occasionally, but never actually does.

Philippe Noiret cuts a striking figure as the aging D'Artagnan, who though slowed somewhat by the years, is still one of the best swords around. He successfully embodies that spirit and sense of "legend" that makes his D'Artagnan believable, and delivers it all with the confidence befitting his character.

The highlight of the film, however, is the lovely Marceau, who as Eloise proves that she can cross swords with the best of them. Her technique with a blade may be a bit awkward at times, but it gives credibility to the character; a young woman raised in a convent-- even the daughter of a famed Musketeer-- wouldn't necessarily be a master swordsman. And Marceau gives a lively performance as Eloise, diving into the action with a reckless abandon that makes her endearing, as well as fun to watch. She has a radiant screen presence that draws the eye to her, even in a crowded scene. But what really puts this character across-- and again, the entire film, for that matter-- is that unabashed spirit of adventure, which Marceau manifests in Eloise.

The supporting cast includes Claude Rich (Crassac), Sami Frey (Aramis), Jean-Luc Bideau (Athos), Raoul Billerey (Porthos), Charlotte Kady (Eglantine de Rochefort), Nils Tavernier (Quentin), Luigi Proietti (Mazarin) and Jean-Paul Roussillon (Planchet). Proving that even Musketeers beyond their prime can be engaging, especially when combined with a spirited beauty like Marceau, "Revenge of the Musketeers" is a welcome cinematic chapter in the saga Dumas began so many years ago. In the end, it's a satisfying experience that will transport you to another place and another time, when chivalry was alive and well, and right always triumphed over wrong.

All for One, One for the Ages!
With all due respect to The Three & Four Musketeers of Richard Lester, Revenge of the Musketeers surpasses these and all other Dumas musketeer films ever. This takes into account a lot of movies, from Fairbanks to Walter Abel, the Ritz Brothers, Louis Hayward, Gene Kelly, Hal Roach Jr., Gordon Scott, Louis Jourdan, Cornel Wilde, and lately Leonardo with Gabriel Byrne et al. Never mind Sophie Marceau fencing with the guys with nary a lesson. Sophie's fine. My money's on Sophie over feisty Kim Cattrall of Lester's Return of the Musketeers. It's reverence that really makes Revenge a winner; reverence for Dumas Pere. D'Artagnan first sees his daughter (Sophie) and mistakes her for long-dead Constance. He alludes to the 'Porthos thrust' and the 'Aramis thrust.' Planchet remains addled, and now aged. Porthos can be lured out of retirement with mounds of food. Brooding Aramis as always follows intrigue. Athos says much with few rasping words. They reunite and allude longingly to the old days, and we feel their aches and pains, and smile at inside references to old foes among the Cardinal's guards. Never mind the slow spots and confusing plot machinations. This is Dumas-inspired after all. Just savor the French sensibilities and the gentle mockery of Mazarin, and D'Artagnan spurring his comrades on by saying, 'We can't let Cyrano have all the fun!' Oh yeah, Sophie gets naked, which can't hurt. And the swordplay is excellent, a la William Hobbs. We may never see the likes of this one again. Magnifique one and all!

Marceau shines in respectable swashbuckler
After a slow start, Revenge of the Musketeers (originally released in France as La Fille de D'Artagnan) picks up some dash and humor by the second half and leaves the viewer credibly entertained. There are good performances from all the cast (except a fairly colorless love-interest for Marceau's Eloise), who seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. The lovely Sophie Marceau gets to parade in a variety of flattering cavalier costumes and the villains are full of bravado and duplicity as befits these sort of romps. Messieurs Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan may be twenty years older than in their heyday, but they still have plenty of fight in them, and when the headstrong daughter of D'Artagnan unmasks a nasty conspiracy -- or IS it? -- they race into action once again for France and King Louis.

The production is top-notch and Marceau's Eloise suitably steals the show, giving perhaps the best swordswoman display since Kim Cattrall's Justine in Richard Lester's "Return of the Musketeers", which this film most resembles. (Close runner-up: Catherine Zeta-Jones in "The Mask of Zorro.") The pace seems less than dynamic, perhaps due in part to the strange lack of a musical score to complement the action -- you'll appreciate just how much the soundtrack can add to a scene when you watch these au naturel fights and duels. But on the whole, this was better than I'd expected and eminently watchable, with a fine spirit that even bursts out of the closing credits. En garde, mes braves! A cheval! (Add an extra star if you truly love films of this genre.) ... Read more

Amazon.com

Marie Latour (Isabelle Huppert) wants to be a singer, but she is a woman struggling against poverty in war-torn France, with two children to feed and a husband away fighting. When a neighbor becomes pregnant, Marie performs an abortion and is rewarded for her services with a Victrola.It's a small step from the Victrola to an income, and Marie finds that she likes to live comfortably and feed her children well. Her husband Paul (Francois Cluzet) returns and attempts to coerce her into being the type of wife he imagines he wants, but Marie insists on running things her way, and her husband is relegated to the role he imagined for her. She finds contentment in her power (merely the power to be herself and pursue her desires), but things are terribly out of balance in the world she was born into and eventually revenge is exacted. Claude Chabrol (Madame Bovary) has created a remarkably complex and poignant film about a very complex subject: the true story of the last woman to be executed in France by guillotine. An important film to see. --James McGrath ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An incredible true story
This powerful Claude Chabrol film, "The Story of Women" stars the incredibly talented Isabelle Huppert as Frenchwoman, Marie Latour--the last woman in France to die on the Guillotine. The story takes place in German-occupied Paris in the 1940s. Latour, whose husband is away fighting in WWII, barely manages to feed herself and her two children. Living in a tiny apartment, eating nettle soup, Latour accidentally stumbles on a lucrative profession when she performs her first abortion on a neighbour. Soon, women are flocking to Latour for her illegal services, and she rakes the money in--oblivious of the risks she runs--for herself and for her customers.

When Latour's husband returns, he accepts the situation--although he is more than a little disgruntled at Marie's new independence; however, times are tough, and he doesn't complain about the financial benefits of Marie's new profession. The Latour family prospers as others struggle, and soon the Latours expand their business dealings into new avenues....

Huppert's acting is, as always, incomparable. As the intense, single-minded, hard, and yet oddly-childlike Latour, Huppert is both believable and sympathetic. If you are a fan of French film, then this film is an absolute MUST see. Chabrol is one of my favourite directors, and Huppert is my favourite actress--their talents combined create an unforgettable viewing experience.

Worth seeing once, but leaves a sour taste
Despite reviews to the commentary, this is not exactly a pro-choice movie (the director is too subtle for that). It is true that the men in the film (French or German) are boorishly ignorant about women's bodies, needs, and aspirations. But, as the director makes clear, the ladies are unreflective about abortion and its philosophical implications. The Huppert character is no heroine. She shamelessly favors her daughter over her son (who really needs his mother more). Huppert nags her shiftless husband to breaking point. And while all ordinary French citizens were locked in a struggle to survive during the Occupation -- confronted daily with sickening dilemmas -- the Huppert character in this film is to all intents and purposes a successful black-marketeer, who plays the system well. Rather too well; pride comes before a fall. Huppert's astringency suits the part, although Trintignant as her hooker pal is more sympathetic.

Abortion in Nazi-occupied France
Claude Charbrol's stark and unsentimental masterpiece about the last woman to be executed in France--she was guillotined for performing abortions in Nazi-occupied France during World War II--forces us to see a side of war not often depicted. What does a woman with two little children do when her country is occupied by the brute forces of the enemy? How is she to find enough to eat, to buy the increasingly scarce and costly necessities of life? How is she to find joy in life? Women often turn to prostitution during such times, but Maire Latout does not. Instead she aborts the foetuses of the prostitutes and of other women impregnated, often by the Nazis. In a sense this is her "resistence." However she prospers and takes up with a Nazi collaborator. In the process she reduces her husband to frustration and humiliation.

Isabelle Huppert as Marie Latout is mesmerizing in a role that allows her talent full latitude. She is clear-headed and sly as a business woman, warm and ordinary as a mother, cold and brutal as a wife, childish and careless as an adulteress, resourceful and fearless as an abortionist, and unrepentant as she awaits the executioner (foreshadowed, by the way, by her son, who wants to be an executioner when he grows up). Francois Cluzet plays her husband Paul, and he is also very good, especially at rousing our pity. Charbrol makes it clear that both Marie and Paul are victims, not only of war, but of their divergent natures. Paul wants the love of Marie, but she wants only a man that represents success and power, a man who is clean-shaven, not the menial worker that he is. Marie Trintignant is interesting and convincing as a prostitute who becomes Marie Latout's friend and business associate.

While abortion is indeed "Une affaire de femmes" this film is about much more than that. No doubt the title is there to emphasize Charbrol's point that men really do not (did not then, and do not now) really understand abortion and why it is sometimes a horrible and abject necessity. When Marie is taken to Paris for a show trial she exclaims to a woman in jail with her, referring to the court that will pass judgment on her, "It's all men...how could men understand?" We can see that men really can't, and that precisely is what this movie is all about: showing us just how horrible pregnancy can be under the circumstances of enemy occupation.

A secondary story here, not quite a subplot, is Paul's story. What does a man do when he and his children are dependent on a woman who doesn't love him, a woman who rejects him and even goes so far as to arrange for the cleaning woman to sleep with him? It is not only Marie who humiliates him, but it is the defeat of his country, the easy surrender to the Nazis that has so reduced him. This is made clear in a scene late in the film between two lawyers who voice their shame as Frenchmen in a time of defeat.

What Paul does is not pretty (and I won't reveal it here), but so great is the provocation that one understands his behavior and can forgive him.

Classic Chabrol/Huppert
Isabelle Huppert won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her delicate performance as Marie LaTout, said to be based on the true story of Marie Louise Giraud, who was guillotined in occupied France as an abortionist and profiting from the earnings of prostitutes. Perhaps no other director presents Huppert as well as Claude Chabrol, which explains why he likes to cast her so often. He frames her sad beautiful face in closeup to remind us of Garbo, though Huppert lacks Garbo's exquisite physical and spiritual languor. Chabrol's spare treatment of the tale underlines the hypocrisy of the execution, rationalised under the name of "moral restoration of the State" when the French were actively collaborating with the German's persecution of the Jews. The narrative also has a strong feminist stance, since Marie is a passive innocent, who sees her actions as helping other women with unwanted pregnancies, and rents her home to a prostitute because she is a friend who represents a woman who was taken from Marie for being Jewish. In prison she points out men cannot understand what she has done, and all the jury are men. Marie's tragedy reminds me a little of Madame Bovary (a later effort by Chabrol and Huppert) since she has ambition yet is stifled by her marriage to a man she does not love. We forgive her infidelity since she is so loving to her two children, and because she even arranges another sexual partner for her husband. In response to the latter extraordinary offer, he expresses his gratitude by reporting her to the police. Chabrol gives us some clever forbodings - a goose beheaded at a fair, Marie's son wish to be an executioner, Marie being a singer, her husband's cutouts hobby. I also like the predominance of blue in the colour scheme to show the glumness of Vichy apartments and the Paris prison, the use of rain, and the restraint in the abortion sequences. And while Huppert's singing voice may not be great it is a delight to see how happy it makes her. Special mention is made of the music by Matthieu Chabrol, reminiscent of Faure.

A triumph for Chabrol and Huppert
Isabelle Huppert won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her delicate performance as Marie LaTout, said to be based on the true story of Marie Louise Giraud, who was guillotined in occupied France as an abortionist and profiting from the earnings of prostitutes. Perhaps no other director presents Huppert as well as Claude Chabrol, which explains why he likes to cast her so often. He frames her sad beautiful face in closeup to remind us of Garbo, though Huppert lacks Garbo's exquisite physical and spiritual languor. Chabrol's spare treatment of the tale underlines the hypocrisy of the execution, rationalised under the name of "moral restoration of the State" when the French were actively collaborating with the German's persecution of the Jews. The narrative also has a strong feminist stance, since Marie is a passive innocent, who sees her actions as helping other women with unwanted pregnancies, and rents her home to a prostitute because she is a friend who represents a woman who was taken from Marie for being Jewish. In prison she points out men cannot understand what she has done, and all the jury are men. Marie's tragedy reminds me a little of Madame Bovary (a later effort by Chabrol and Huppert) since she has ambition yet is stifled by her marriage to a man she does not love. We forgive her infidelity since she is so loving to her two children, and because she even arranges another sexual partner for her husband. In response to the latter extraordinary offer, he expresses his gratitude by reporting her to the police. Chabrol gives us some clever forbodings - a goose beheaded at a fair, Marie's son's wish to be an executioner, Marie being a singer. I also like the predominance of blue in the colour scheme to show the glumness of Vichy apartments and the Paris prison, the use of rain, and the restraint in the abortion sequences. And while Huppert's singing voice may not be great it is a delight to see how happy it makes her. Special mention is made of the music by Matthieu Chabrol, reminiscent of Faure. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Insane love affair leaves a lot to be desired
This movie was okay if your cable has gone out and you're tired of watching Tracy Lords videos. LadyHendrix says her friends say she talks about this movie too much. I agree. Insanity loves company. I have seen this movie and I have seen LadyHendrix act it out and I would say in comparing the two, LadyHendrix's version was much more entertaining. Of course the movie has more then one actress and that limits LadyHendrix' scope somewhat. But the film lacked a great deal of what I like to call "realism." This was obviously made during the free spirited 60's and maybe those that love it remember it through a fog of LSD. It does not hold up well while sober, straight or sane. But LadyHendrix's verions can be enjoyed as a great piece of performance art and should be filmed and released as a respectful homage.

obsessed
AS OBSESSED AS THE FEMALE CHARACTER IS OBSESSED WITH HER YOUNG MAN , I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS FILM. IT IS NOT ONLY AN INTERESTING TAKE ON THE SUBJECT , BUT HILARIOUS IN HER REACTION TO THE WHOLE ORDEAL. I LITERALLY CHAIN SMOKED THROUGH THE FILM .I'VE TOLD ALL MY FRIENDS ABOUT IT, THEY ARE SICK OF HEARING ABOUT IT AND WATCHING ME REINACT SOME OF THE SCENES, WHICH I DO OFTEN .I AM ABSOLUTELY CRAZY ABOUT THIS FILM. I'VE HUNTED IT DOWN IN ALL THE VIDIEO STORES, AND THEN ALMOST FELL OFF MY CHAIR WHEN I SAW AMAZON HAD IT. ORGASMIC!MALE , FEMALE, STAIGHT , GAY PLEASE ORDER THIS FILM, YOU WILL NEVER LOOK AT RELATIONSHIPS THE SAME WAY AGAIN. IT'S AMAZZZZZZZZZING! NOW IF I COULD ONLY GET THE SOUNDTRACK,EVERY TIME THE WOMAN IS LYING ON THE BED DEVASTATED BY HER YOUNG LOVER THEY PLAY THE BEST ,MOST APPROPRIATE OLD CLASSIC EURO LOVE SONG.BRILLIANT.THE ACTRESS IS JUST SOOOOOOOO AMAZING,HER ACTING IS SO UNREAL, NO AMERICAN ACTRESS HAS EVER GOT THIS TYPE DOWN SO WELL. I SHAKE MY HEAD IN DISBELEIF ,THIS FILM IS JUST SOOOOO GOOD. I'VE DRIVEN MY FRIENDS ABSOLUTLY CRAZY , I TALK ABOUT THIS FILM AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK , I THINK I SHALL ORDER A FEW COPIES FOR THEM. EVERYONE HAS TO SEE THIS FILM. AN OVER DONE TOPIC , BUT DONE IN A VERY, VERY, FUNNY, TRAGIC WAY.

one of my favorite
This is the French movie "Post coitum, animal triste" with English subtitle. When it was shown in theatre in New York city in Spring 1998, I watched it three times, because this is the perfect movie for me, with the beautiful scenes, interesting characters, story, etc. The story is about a middle aged book editor with a husband and two kids, who fell in love with a handsome young man and went destructive. It is interesting that the cover of the videotape version released in the U.S. is dark and full of hints for sex, while the cover of the version availabe in France is very bright and colorful, with the heroine herself and the background of a Greek isle under the sunshine.

after sex film
i want shower after sex fil ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Real French Connection
This is one of the best police dramas to come out of France in years. Charlotte Kady has a small gem of a role as an undercover cop in DEA style crime unit. Strong performance and great directing make this a foreign film buff's dream. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Powerful Recreation of the Middle Ages
Beatrice awaits her father and brothers return from war. The family fortune has dwindled but Beatrice looks after the castle and its surrounding farmlands the best she can. These early scenes have a beauty and magic to them and Julie Delpy's etheral beauty seems perfectly at home in this setting. Her world is charmed with wonder and she looks destined to live the romantic life of princess. It seems all that is missing is a father to restore the castle to its former glory. The longer he is gone the more Beatrice idealises this man she never knew. When word reaches her that he is on his way back she is ecstatic. Meanwhile we see what kind of man he is. From the first glimpse Tavernier gives us of him we know he is not what Beatrice imagines him to be. As they welcome the father and his band of soldiers into the castle and feed him someone asks to hear of his exploits...a silence fills the room. Reluctantly he begins to tell a tale quite different than the one the listeners expected to hear. We soon realize a more disillusioned man never walked the earth than this man. He paces the halls of the castle like an animal hungry for prey. Nothing is sacred to him, nothing safe from him. Religion nor family hold any sway over him, he takes what he wants & the biggest prize in the castle is Beatrice. This homecoming begins to feel like a state of seige. It is not long before the prize is forcibly claimed.

Beatrice pleads with the priest for protection but he will do nothing that might offend the Lord of the castle. In fact its Beatrice who is blamed for her fathers actions. Her only ally proves to be a female witch and witchcraft in this film seems to be the one activity available for women to feel powerful and it proves to be quite seductive to helpless Beatrice. Tavernier seems to be saying that once a man loses faith his capacity for destruction is limitless. The father defies every natural law and in so doing seems to beg for someone to destroy him once and for all. And finally someone does.

In other films Tavernier has dealt with family dysfunction in a profound way (The Clockmaker) but this goes well beyond mere dysfunction. There is something compelling about this recreation of the middle ages as it seems to capture the essence and contradictions of the time--and even offer a very modern way of explaining why such forces co-existed.

It's not all Prince Charmings and Happily Ever Afters
This movie disturbed me but was still unbelievably compelling to watch as the three main characters, the father, the son, and the daughter wage an internal war upon each other.

The father and son return after an humiliating experience at war only to find that the battle continues with each other at home. The son is constantly berated by the father for his shortcomings. The father forces the daughter to express the same emotions of compassion and love she shows to her brother to him. What ends up happening is a fierce battle of strength versus intelligence.

A disturbing, compelling, and haunting movie. Be warned, it's not for all tastes.

Offbeat, ritualistic medieval classic
I've watched this film many times, and it never fails to move me. It has the aura of ritual -- as when the father points to his heart and says "Here" before his daughter stabs him, a death he has surely earned. Is this what he has desired all along? Did she have to dress up in her disgraced brother's clothes before being capable of murder? Etc. This film is so un-PC, the viewer might be best off seeing it as an exploitation movie gone arty and strange. Best witch-burning sequence ever. Best dirt-eating. Best ancient castle with hand-held chase scenes. Magnificent acting. Won't bore you for a second, that's for sure. The real thing without any cinematic cliches. Compare to "The Devils" or "The Return of Martin Guerre."

Beatrice (French title: La Passion Beatrice)
This film is well acted and well directed; however, emotionally it is VERY difficult to watch. The father in the film is a full-blown psychopath. It's hard to say which is more horrifying: his emotional abuse of his son or the sexual abuse of his daughter. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this film was, unless it was to de-romanticize the Middle Ages; in this, it certainly succeeds. I do have to give director Tavernier credit for an honest treatment of child abuse in all its revolting reality. Watch it only if you have a strong stomach. ... Read more