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The Duchess of Langeais (2008)
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Reviews Counted:61
Fresh:41
Rotten:20
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: At times plodding and dialogue heavy, The Duchess of Langeais is nevertheless an intriguing and rewarding dissection of class and gender relations.
Theatrical Release:Feb 22, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Jacques Rivette (VA SAVOIR) directs this masterful adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's novel about a game of hearts between General Armand de Montriveau (Guillaume Depardieu), a protégé of Bonaparte... [More]
Starring: Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli
Director: Jacques Rivette
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Reviews for The Duchess of Langeais
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It's charged with nuance yet ultimately an exercise in compressed literary adaptation. Full Review |
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 8/10 |
Visually arresting period drama finds the core of the emotional life of its characters in the debate between the duchess and the general about love. Balzac fans will delight. Full Review |
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Balibar's sly mouth tightens with mean glee as she plays all the Duchesses' games, and Depardieu's brooding, battered face ceaselessly signals the General's suppressed, sexualized violence. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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Maybe even Rivette himself is a little too delicate for this ferocious, intensely focused pair. But he's fascinated by them, and ultimately, he loves them. Full Review |
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B+ |
The Duchess of Langeais is a romantic dance of death. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Of course, it would also help if we could understand what's supposed to be so alluring about the title character, Antoinette de Langeais. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Stands with some of the best efforts of Rivette's long career. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
The everyday moviegoer will find it as impenetrable as its heroine. But if you vibrate to nuances of style, if you enjoy tension gathering strength beneath terrible restraint, if you admire great acting, then you will. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The director guides the viewer through a sly consideration of near-sociopathic not-quite-lovers, one of whom finds refuge in religion, the other in romantic obsession. Full Review |
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2/5 |
If you like multi-arced episodes of Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theatre), the pacing might work in this padded film. As it was, experiencing this in real time was akin to watching two snails race on a muddy track. Full Review |
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C |
A remote and chilly exercise, more museum piece than movie. Full Review |
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1/4 |
Classy? Yes, Full Review |
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B- |
Even though it's nearly 2 1/2 hours, unfolds in flashback and derives from Balzac, then, The Duchess of Langeais is among Rivette's more succinct and approachable works. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
The Duchess of Langeais is a stately costume drama of wrenching passions expressed in courtly phrases. Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
Jacques Rivette’s Duchess of Langeais seems to me a nearly impeccable work of art -- beautiful, true, profound.
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It is the ultimate in movie as pane of glass, completely un-self-conscious of its own movieness but simply an intensely focused examination of human behavior on a narrative armature. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Based on a Balzac story, Rivette's Duchess manages to be both old-fashioned in its settings and circumstances, and coolly modern in its view of thwarted passion and despair. Full Review |
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4/4 |
The movie's satisfactions are subtle, but they run deep, and there are many. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Duchess of Langeais
February 21, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Cruel to Be Kind, Vantage Has Little Point, Guess Witless Protection's Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got views to a kill, medicated youth, a pair of DIY filmmakers, and Southern justice. What do the critics have to say? More...
December 14, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
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