Nathalie (2003)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 6
A seductive French import that portrays adult issues of jealousy and betrayal with strong lead performances and considerable French charm.
Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1
A seductive French import that portrays adult issues of jealousy and betrayal with strong lead performances and considerable French charm.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 2,658
My Rating
Movie Info
A middle-aged woman fears that her husband is cheating on her -- and chooses a very unlikely method for verifying her paranoia -- in this psychological drama from the writer of Une Liaison Pornographique. Catherine (Fanny Ardant) is a successful Parisian gynecologist whose long-term marriage to Bernard (Gérard Depardieu) has been passionless as of late. When she checks his cell phone messages one afternoon, she discovers a suggestive "thank you" from a young colleague of his, which creates an
ADVERTISEMENT
Nathalie Trailer & Photos
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (6) | DVD (6)
... the conceit works beautifully with the right personalities, talented and uninhibited, engaged in its execution.
Nathalie... offers compelling food for thought, with a little visual stimulation thrown in on the side.
Beguiling and surprising.
A woman (Fanny Ardant) hires a prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) to seduce her unfaithful husband (Gérard Depardieu) in Anne Fontaine's seductive and intriguing film.
Nathalie is intricate, provocative, cleanly acted, but it's never entirely convincing -- and never more so than in the table-turning climax.
A stylish, sharply observed erotic mystery.
well-mannered, though never dull
Exceptional performances and the oh-so-Frenchness of the complications produce an erotic tale that plays like the best gossipy story you ever heard about people you thought you knew.
Between the leonine Ardant, the streets of Paris, and the nearly hypnotic score by Michael Nyman, the sophisticated Nathalie oozes with elegance.
Talky, but with an interesting performance by Depardieu.
Viva la anti-feminism!
French sexual politics may not resonate with American sensibilities
A final big 'twist,' which should be no surprise..., sets everything to right again, a case of French marital therapy by way of the Red Shoe Diaries.
The film's considerable eroticism is all in the atmosphere and the dialogue.
Deals with the impleasantries of sexual behavior without submitting to the level of cheap softcore theatrics.
Worth a look, especially if you appreciate the very particular and sometimes peculiar charms of contemporary French cinema.
Audience Reviews for Nathalie
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Nathalie yet.
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: Fox and Marvel Both Courting Quicksilver for Comic Blockbusters 26
- Critics Consensus: Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh 62
- Red Carpet Photos with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and More 0
- Video: The Hangover Part III Cast Interviews 0
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 50
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 16
Top Headlines
-
Evan Peters Joins X-Men: Days of Future Past
0
-
Toby Jones Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier
1
-
The Poltergeist Reboot May Actually Be a Sequel
17
-
Will Forte Promises MacGruber 2
5
-
Universal Plans Timecop Reboot
2
-
Return of the Jedi Turns 30
1
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
Foreign Titles
- Nathalie... (DE)
- Nathalie... (CA)


Top Critic
SPOILERS!
whether it's nathalie or chloe, the basic structure of the plots is the same: a woman doctor suspects her husband cheating on her because he doesn't show up at his birthday party the wife has planned for months. and the paranoid wife hires a professional hooker to seduce the husband just to test his loyalty. the more details the hooker reveals about bedroom affairs, the closer these two women. eventually there's some undercurrent romantic passion developing to unite these two women as something approximately like lovers. then suddenly the wife discovers whatever the hooker has confided is a lie: her husband never even cheats...the wife falls in love all over again with the husband? so how's hooker? what shall she do?
the difference between the original and the remake is: the former is a comedy; the latter is a tragedy. emmanuelle beart, who plays the hooker, seems to put on a defiant sass. she's absolutely confident and her purpose is to entice the wife into mischievous game which she enjoys more and more. as for the lesbianism element, i don't think french nathalie is lesbianistic at all! and it's more like some inneundo to suggest these two women have some tender chemistry mellowing into somehow ambiguous sisterhood. by comparison, the wife seems to take delight at the details of her husband's affairs with the hooker. and she even secretly mocks him by ordering the wine he hates (but the hooker loves) for him. like an esoteric code of intimacy between her and the hooker.
as i was writing along a paper about comic catharsis, and nathalie fits the profile..let i quote one passage from my school paper:
Comedy has to pamper its feast on imagination to the extent of ridicule, but it still has a sense of universality within the plots to induce its own comic catharsis from the audience, as Kitano emphasizes: "the ridiculous in comedy which contains a universal plot arouses in the audience the purified emotion of the same name that does not have the painful element of envy" (Kitano 7). In other words, comic catharsis is "purification of emotion from the envy" that is brought forth by the blend of pain and pleasure altogether, in the same time, it is also antithetical to tragedy, which seeks its mimetic catharsis of fear and pity, because "the kind of pleasure at which comedy aims, by contrast, is achieved if enemies are reconciled and nobody is killed by anybody"
two crucial points would be: the purification of envy and the reconciliation between foes...so here's nathalie. the wife hires the hooker out of envy for husband's affair, and at last her envy dissolves and gets purified when she finds herself being made as a fool. but the ending has been resymbolized into order: she and her husband reconcile. and the hooker silently lets herself out of the wife's life with a gentle kiss on her cheek. comedy.
"nathalie" is something light and mild to give you a pleasant witty smile. very subtly understated. (maybe because the director is a woman? french art-house chic flick?)
but "chloe" is different case, and there's nothing resembling the original except the basic plots..