The beautiful Duchess of Langeais secures her prized trophy – the heart of a young, high-principled general, disarmed for the first time in unfamiliar territory – the deceit-ridden Paris salons in the era of the post-Napoleonic reaction. Rivette presents a merciless duel between true feelings and contrived emotion in this demanding yet masterful adaptation of Balzac’s short story.
After the Napoleonic Wars come to an end, the young general Montriveau starts getting invitations to the noble salons of Paris whose company delights in his sullenness and incorruptible candour. The beautiful Duchess of Langeais manages to secure Montriveau’s love as a prized trophy. In time, the couple learn to appreciate the difference between diversion, passion and real love, but too late to prevent the inevitable tragedy. Rivette’s film is not a “film adaptation of Balzac”, where it might have attempted to reproduce the literary work to suit the spirit of the contemporary era. The great French filmmaker avoids superficial illustration by respecting Balzac, together with the latter’s characterisations and seemingly antiquated style, as a true partner in communicating his own lifelong obsession with the “lie who always speaks the truth” (Cocteau). It’s perfectly natural for one of the most remarkable films of 2007 to appeal more to the viewer who won’t desert the filmmaker the moment the game ceases being a game.
137 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Jacques Rivette
/ Screenplay Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette podle povídky Vévodkyně z Langeais / based on the short story The Duchess of Langeais by Honoré de Balzac
/ Dir. of Photography William Lubtchansky
/ Music Pierre Allio
/ Editor Nicole Lubtchansky
/ Producer Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant
/ Production Pierre Grise Productions
/ Cast Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier, Barbet Schroeder
/ Contact Les Films du Losange, Národní filmový archiv
Jacques Rivette (b. 1928, Rouen, France) was a contributor for the most influential post-war film magazine Cahiers du cinéma; he made several short films and, concurrently with his colleagues from the New Wave, he moved over to features with the film Paris Belongs to Us (1958). The censorship scandal surrounding his next film The Nun (1965), the stylistic masterpiece L’amour fou (1969) and the 13-hour experiment Out 1 (1970), however, did not earn him the kind of public acclaim enjoyed by the debuts of Truffaut or Godard. It was only later that audiences began to appreciate his work, with the brilliant fantasy Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974). Rivette’s subsequent films also bore the seal of hermetic sophistication, which was unexpectedly broken by the four-hour, Balzac-inspired La Belle noiseuse and the classy comedy Who Knows? (2001). The films from his “mature period”, The Story of Marie and Julien (2003) and also his latest contribution, show the director at his best.
Les Films du Losange
7/9 rue des Petites Écuries, 750 10, Paris
France
Phone: +33 144 438 710
E-mail: [email protected]
Národní filmový archiv
Závišova 5, 140 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
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