''The Last Mistress'' (french: link=no, 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 Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...

. It stars

Asia Argento Asia Argento (; born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with ...

and Fu'ad Aït Aattou as the two main characters. The movie was directed by the French filmmaker

Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects ...

and was selected for the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

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 (

), 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

as La Vellini * Fu'ad Aït Aattou as Ryno de Marigny * Roxane Mesquida as Hermangarde * Claude Sarraute as la marquise de Flers *

Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedian, actress, film director and screenwriter. She has won three César Awards from four nominations. Career She made her cinematic debut with director Agnès Varda in two movies: Sept pi� ...

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 Amira Casar is a British-born actress who grew up in England, Ireland, and France. Early life Amira is the daughter of a Kurdish father and a Russian mother. She was born in London and was subsequently raised in England, Ireland, and France. Sh ...

as Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles *

Lio Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos (born 17 June 1962), known professionally as Lio, is a Portuguese-Belgian singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s. Life and career Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furt ...

as The singer *

Isabelle Renauld Isabelle Renauld (; born 24 November 1966 in Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine) is a French actress. She trained at the Nanterre Amandiers theatre school directed by Patrice Chéreau from 1985 to 1987. She was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and ...

as l'arrogante *

Léa Seydoux Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne (; born 1 July 1985) is a French actor. Known for her roles in both French cinema and in Hollywood she's received various accolades including the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard in 2009 as wel ...

as Oliva *

Nicholas Hawtrey Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...

as Sir Reginald *

Caroline Ducey Caroline Ducey (born Caroline Trousselard, 12 December 1976) is a French actress who has appeared in 34 films since 1994. Outside of her home country, she is best known for her controversial role in Catherine Breillat's 1999 film ''Romance'', a ...

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, and Sheri Linden of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' named it the ninth best. 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." Metacritic gave the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 25 critics.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography Blateau,Anne-Élisabeth. "Une vieille maîtresse sans Breillat" (A Last Mistress without Breillat), in ''Carré d'Art :

Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

, Dalí, Hallier'', by

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...

, Anagramme éd., Paris, 2008, pp. 143–149.

External links

* * *
''Une vieille maîtresse''
at Films de France
Cannes Festival press kit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Mistress, The 2007 films 2000s historical films Erotic romance films Films based on French novels Films based on works by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly Films directed by Catherine Breillat French historical films Italian historical films Films set in the 1830s 2000s French films