''Beatrice'' (French:''La passion Béatrice'', Italian:''Quarto comandamento'') is a 1987 French-Italian

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (; 25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, ...

and starring

Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (2 July 1949 – 27 December 2010) was a French actor. He made more than 100 appearances in movies and television over his career, as well as in theatrical roles. He was often cast as a villain, criminal or psychopath. D ...

Julie Delpy Julie Delpy (; born 21 December 1969) is a French and American actress, screenwriter, and film director. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including '' Europa Eur ...

and

Nils Tavernier Nils Tavernier (born 1 September 1965) is a French actor and director. He is best known for his film appearances in ''Beatrice (1987 film), Beatrice'' (1987), ''Valmont (film), Valmont'' (1988), and ''Revenge of the Musketeers (1994 film), Revenge ...

. Set in a castle in France during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, it recounts the sufferings of Béatrice at the hands of her brutal father.

Plot

When a knight goes off to fight the English, he leaves his young son François at his castle to guard his wife. Catching her in bed with a man, François stabs the lover to death and retreats to the tower, where he waits for his father's return. Years later, he goes off with his son Arnaud to fight and leaves his young daughter Béatrice to guard the castle. When her menfolk are captured by the English, she sells goods and lands to raise ransoms. Years later, disillusioned by war and captivity, the two return to a depleted heritage. While Arnaud has remained soft, François has become bitter and hard. He terrorises the neighbourhood, raping and looting, and tyrannises his household. His wild lust leads him to take Béatrice's virginity by force, saying that she is now his wife. The village priest refuses to marry the pair, so François has the idea of marrying her to a wealthy commoner who bought much of their land. The man demurs, however, preferring to find a virgin he does not have to share with her father. Though Béatrice has to submit her body to her father, nothing will change her mind : she casts spells, and pays a witch to wish death on her ravisher. When she realises that she is pregnant, she tells her brother and asks him to kick her in the abdomen. François sees this effort to destroy his child and takes his revenge. Dressing Arnaud as a girl, he gives him a sporting start and then rides after him with all his henchmen in a wild manhunt, forcing Béatrice to ride with them. On returning to the castle, Béatrice finds that in addition to losing her brother her pet birds have been killed. She goes up to her father's room and stabs him to death.

Cast

as François de Cortemart *

as Béatrice de Cortemart *

as Arnaud de Cortemart *

Monique Chaumette Monique Chaumette (born 4 April 1927) is a French actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1958. She was married to Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career ...

as La mère de François *

Michèle Gleizer Michele () is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (usually pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and iden ...

as Hélène *

Maxime Leroux Maxime Leroux (26 March 195121 January 2010) was a French actor. Partial filmography *''Les manèges de l'imaginaire'' (1982) - L'homme amnésique *''Effraction'' (1983) - Un gangster *''Le transfuge'' (1985) *''Disorder'' (1986) - Propriétai ...

as Richard * Jean-Claude Adelin as Bertrand Lemartin *

Robert Dhéry Robert Dhéry (; 27 April 1921 – 3 December 2004) (born Robert Léon Henri Fourrey or Robert Foullcy) was a French comedian, actor, director and screenwriter. He was married to actress Colette Brosset, with whom he appeared onstage in ''La Plu ...

as Raoul * Jean-Louis Grinfeld as Maître Blanche * Claude Duneton as The priest *

Isabelle Nanty Isabelle Nanty (; born 21 January 1962) is a French actress, film and theatre director and screenwriter. Career Nanty was a teacher for several years at the Cours Florent. She then received a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising A ...

as The baby-sitter * Jean-Luc Rivals as Jehan * Roselyne Vuillaume as Marie *

Maïté Maillé Marie-Thérèse Ordonez (; 2 June 1938 – 21 December 2024), known as Maïté, was a French restaurateur, actress and television presenter. She is mostly famous for hosting long-running cookery shows on French television, including ''La Cuisin ...

as La Noiraude * Albane Guilhe as La Recluse * Marie Privat as Marguerite *

Sébastien Konieczny Sébastien is a common French given name. It is a French form of the Latin language, Latin name ''Sebastianus'' meaning "from Sebaste". Sebaste (disambiguation), Sebaste was a common placename in classical Antiquity, derived from the Greek langua ...

as François Enfant * Vincent Saint-Ouen as Le père de François enfant * Tina Sportolaro as La mère de François enfant *

François Hadji-Lazaro François Hadji-Lazaro (22 June 1956 – 25 February 2023) was a French actor, musician and producer. Hadji-Lazaro founded the French independent label Boucherie Productions (1985–2001) and played in many bands such as Les Garçons Bouchers ( ...

as Curé départ guerre * Nicole Siffre as Pauline *

Myriam Thomas Miriam () is a feminine given name recorded in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Exodus as the name of the sister of Moses, the prophetess Miriam. Spelling variants include French ''Myriam'', German ''Mirjam, Mirijam''; hypocoristic forms include ...

as Mariette * Christophe Rea as Jacques * David Ordonez as Thomas * Jacques Raynaud as Joseph * Pétrus Léo Crombe as Gildas * Béatrice Abatut as Blandine * Marie Cosnay as Nicolette * Sylvie Beyssen, Anne Bolon,

Frédérique Figuero Frederique is a French female given name, which is equivalent to the male name Frederick, meaning "peaceful ruler". Alternative spellings include Frédérique and Frederieke. The name Frederique may refer to: People * Frédérique Apffel-Marglin ( ...

, Agnès Hick as Prostituées

Production

said that

had an exceptional power of concentration and emotion. She had to shoot a quite difficult scene completely naked. He told her there would be no rehearsal. The first take went very well, but she asked for a second. She said to him: "I can do better."

References

Bibliography

* Greene, Naomi. ''Landscapes of Loss: The National Past in Postwar French Cinema''. Princeton University Press, 1999. * Waters, Sandra. ''Narrating the Italian Historical Novel''. ProQuest, 2009.

External links

* * * {{Bertrand Tavernier 1987 films 1980s historical drama films 1980s Italian-language films French historical drama films Italian historical drama films Films directed by Bertrand Tavernier Films set in the 14th century Films about incest 1987 drama films 1980s French-language films 1980s Italian films 1980s French films French-language Italian films