Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 93
Fresh: 71 | Rotten: 22
More complicated than your average bodice ripper, Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress features beautiful costumes, wrought romances, and a feral performance from Argento.
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 2
More complicated than your average bodice ripper, Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress features beautiful costumes, wrought romances, and a feral performance from Argento.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 2,911
Catherine Breillat's adaptation of An Old Mistress stars Fu'ad Ait Aatou as Ryno de Marigny, and Asia Argento as Vellini, two lovers in 19th century Paris. The two have been passionately involved for nearly a decade, but de Marigny attempts to end their relationship now that he is engaged to Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), a respectable young woman. As the bride-to-be's grandmother forces de Marigny to confront his past as a notorious womanizer, the film flashes back to reveal the intense decade
May 25, 2007 Wide
Mar 1, 2009
$0.6M
IFC Films
All Critics (97) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (71) | Rotten (22) | DVD (2)
Argento seizes each scene with both hands, adding surprising layers of feeling as she goes.
It's devastating.
[An] entertaining, elegantly shot adaptation of Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's 19th century novel.
It's characteristic of the virtues and limitations of French sexual provocateur Catherine Breillat...that they usually derive from the same source--the fearless determination to skirt the borders of camp.
Cool, carnal, and lethal, The Last Mistress is a period drama with a difference.
There's a brittle pomp and circumstance to The Last Mistress, which suddenly turns into a sensual witch's dance, once star Asia Argento is let loose about a third of the way into the film.
The Last Mistress displays the director's contempt for conventionality in clear, ringing tones.
An elegant film about an irresistible hot romance.
Rather boring.
The characters ultimately feel more like pawns to be manipulated, rather than flesh-and-blood human beings who suffer and love, which gives the film's message that the two are essentially one in the same a rather hollow ring.
All of the characters are so elusive and thin there's nothing to grab our interest.
It is an outstandingly intelligent, formally pleasing film, and a fascinating development for Breillat herself.
There was a point about midway through "The Last Mistress" when I was honestly wondering if it was intentionally bad.
Seldom have a filmmaker and lead actress performed in perfect, artistic sync.
Argento is a feral beauty who devours everything in her path, and a perfect actress for Breillat. But the director seems hemmed in by the period finery, and the movie is a self-conscious yawn.
Argento, the daughter of Italian horror maestro Dario Argento, has become a force to be reckoned with on the international film scene over the past couple of years.
Screenwriter/director Catherine Breillat's take on the tale has a definite feminist slant to it, which may explain why the male characters come off so badly. And unfortunately, sometimes that makes it dull.
Although the period detail is beautiful I just wasn't drawn in by the plot or the characters. It's a shame as I liked the sound of it so much.
September 18, 2009Super Reviewer
"the last mistress" is the work of art from the director who's made "romance", catherine breillat, and it's much more reserved and polished due to its backset time-scale than breillant's any other sensationalistic piece. frankly, as a fervent feministic provocateur, breillant has always been a little bit too
August 9, 2009Super Reviewer
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