2008 04 12 - SIFF - The Last Mistress
Last Mistress, TheCatherine Breillat France 2007 114 mins R21
Stylish Italian actress Asia Argento - the grungy sylph we last saw fronting the Miss Sixty advertising campaign - joins artistic forces with controversial director Catherine Breillat in this immaculate period piece, The Last Mistress, (Une Vieille Maitresse ). Breillat, whose previous films obsessed perpetually with the theme of sexuality, returns from a near-fatal stroke to complete her latest film which similarly throbs with passion and rages with sexual innuendo (and more).
Argento plays La Vellini, a scheming Spanish courtesan who attempts to thwart her lover Ryno De Marigny’s (Fu’ad Ait Attou) plans to marry the young, aristocratic ingénue Hermangarde ( Roxane Mesquida). Ryno succumbs repeatedly to La Vellini, shuttling and vacillating between the two women and their respective worlds, one steamy with raw lust and raunchy sex, another suffocated with immense wealth, prim manners and intrigue.
The scandalous discontents of this film are portrayed expertly by newcomer Fu’ad Ait Attou and rare talent Asia Argento. Provocative and bold, Breillat’s experienced direction brings Jules Barbey D’Aurevilly’s 18th century novel alive on screen for audiences.
Stylish Italian actress Asia Argento - the grungy sylph we last saw fronting the Miss Sixty advertising campaign - joins artistic forces with controversial director Catherine Breillat in this immaculate period piece, The Last Mistress, (Une Vieille Maitresse ). Breillat, whose previous films obsessed perpetually with the theme of sexuality, returns from a near-fatal stroke to complete her latest film which similarly throbs with passion and rages with sexual innuendo (and more).Argento plays La Vellini, a scheming Spanish courtesan who attempts to thwart her lover Ryno De Marigny’s (Fu’ad Ait Attou) plans to marry the young, aristocratic ingénue Hermangarde ( Roxane Mesquida). Ryno succumbs repeatedly to La Vellini, shuttling and vacillating between the two women and their respective worlds, one steamy with raw lust and raunchy sex, another suffocated with immense wealth, prim manners and intrigue.
The scandalous discontents of this film are portrayed expertly by newcomer Fu’ad Ait Attou and rare talent Asia Argento. Provocative and bold, Breillat’s experienced direction brings Jules Barbey D’Aurevilly’s 18th century novel alive on screen for audiences.
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