Catherine Breillat's film of d'Aurevilly's 1851 novel may not contain the explicit hardcore elements of her previous films Romance and À ma sur! but what it lacks in hardcore sexuality it fully makes up for in emotional honesty and explicit anatomising of a love affair.
The complicated structure begins with a pair of old gossips, male (the wonderful Michael Lonsdale) and female, taking it upon themselves to prevent the marriage of the beautiful, young and wealthy Hermangarde to the libertine Ryno de Marigny. It is widely known that Ryno has kept a notorious mistress, the Spanish/Italian Vellini, for the past ten years. A few days before his marriage, Ryno pays a call on Vellini and tells her that he will stop coming to see her. She is clearly distressed, and after copulating for one supposedly final time, he leaves her with a bad feeling between them. Ryno must then explain himself to Hermangarde's elderly grandmother the Marquise de Flers, who demands an explanation for the rumours and aspersions that the gossips have been whispering. Ryno swears that he loves Hermangarde, and then tells the Marquise the story of his and Vellini's affair.
There follows a long flashback in which the affair is relayed. We see their initial, intense courting - she hates Ryno at first but after he is nearly killed in a duel by her decrepit husband, she gives herself totally to him. They run off to Algeria, have a daughter who tragically dies, spend a lot of time screwing and then decide that they are no longer in love. Despite separating, they can't keep away from each other, and it is only Ryno's current love for Hermangarde which has finally, in his mind, ended the affair. The Marquise is satisfied, with the marriage going ahead in pomp and ceremony, with various misogynist readings from St. Paul peppering the service.
But Vellini is not got away from so easy. She stalks her ex-lover and he soon drifts back into her bed. Hermangarde's heart is broken, Ryno feels bad but there's nothing anyone can do. The gossips feel justified in their initial worries but we've seen the situation being far more complicated that they can ever grasp.
The brilliance of The Last Mistress is that it fully convinces in it's portrayal of a love affair which operates beyond the socially acceptable structures of sexual relationships. Ryno and Vellini obviously work together, but not all of the time and not fulfilling all of each other's needs. Ryno did genuinely love Hermangarde and wish to settle down with her - whether that was from himself or imposed on him by social convention is an unanswered question - but nevertheless is he drawn inexorably back to the woman with who he shares an intense though imperfect and illegitimate bond. The story is very carefully placed within the social structure and ideological values of its time - which is why the wedding scene with its long misogynist orations is so important. Vellini, and Ryno as well, are not made for these ideological bounds - and the tension between the avenues society gives them and the desires they have within causes them no end of pain.
The characters are fully realised sexual beings. Although we don't see the copulating sexual organs as in Romance, we do understand that these are people with sexual organs and that the use they put to those parts of their body is connected to the very core of their being. The actors, especially the stunningly beautiful lead actor Fu'ad Ait Aattou, all do superb jobs of showing the emotional havoc the story wreaks on them. There's a distance to the filming which allows us to see the story without getting too caught up with it, although the costumes, sets and cinematography all have a seductive beauty.
There's also a stylisation going on whereby the actors don't age throughout the narrative, as it they are beautiful beings frozen in the roles they are enacting - timeless and eternally suffering. A ravishing and quite wonderful film.
The complicated structure begins with a pair of old gossips, male (the wonderful Michael Lonsdale) and female, taking it upon themselves to prevent the marriage of the beautiful, young and wealthy Hermangarde to the libertine Ryno de Marigny. It is widely known that Ryno has kept a notorious mistress, the Spanish/Italian Vellini, for the past ten years. A few days before his marriage, Ryno pays a call on Vellini and tells her that he will stop coming to see her. She is clearly distressed, and after copulating for one supposedly final time, he leaves her with a bad feeling between them. Ryno must then explain himself to Hermangarde's elderly grandmother the Marquise de Flers, who demands an explanation for the rumours and aspersions that the gossips have been whispering. Ryno swears that he loves Hermangarde, and then tells the Marquise the story of his and Vellini's affair.
There follows a long flashback in which the affair is relayed. We see their initial, intense courting - she hates Ryno at first but after he is nearly killed in a duel by her decrepit husband, she gives herself totally to him. They run off to Algeria, have a daughter who tragically dies, spend a lot of time screwing and then decide that they are no longer in love. Despite separating, they can't keep away from each other, and it is only Ryno's current love for Hermangarde which has finally, in his mind, ended the affair. The Marquise is satisfied, with the marriage going ahead in pomp and ceremony, with various misogynist readings from St. Paul peppering the service.
But Vellini is not got away from so easy. She stalks her ex-lover and he soon drifts back into her bed. Hermangarde's heart is broken, Ryno feels bad but there's nothing anyone can do. The gossips feel justified in their initial worries but we've seen the situation being far more complicated that they can ever grasp.
The brilliance of The Last Mistress is that it fully convinces in it's portrayal of a love affair which operates beyond the socially acceptable structures of sexual relationships. Ryno and Vellini obviously work together, but not all of the time and not fulfilling all of each other's needs. Ryno did genuinely love Hermangarde and wish to settle down with her - whether that was from himself or imposed on him by social convention is an unanswered question - but nevertheless is he drawn inexorably back to the woman with who he shares an intense though imperfect and illegitimate bond. The story is very carefully placed within the social structure and ideological values of its time - which is why the wedding scene with its long misogynist orations is so important. Vellini, and Ryno as well, are not made for these ideological bounds - and the tension between the avenues society gives them and the desires they have within causes them no end of pain.
The characters are fully realised sexual beings. Although we don't see the copulating sexual organs as in Romance, we do understand that these are people with sexual organs and that the use they put to those parts of their body is connected to the very core of their being. The actors, especially the stunningly beautiful lead actor Fu'ad Ait Aattou, all do superb jobs of showing the emotional havoc the story wreaks on them. There's a distance to the filming which allows us to see the story without getting too caught up with it, although the costumes, sets and cinematography all have a seductive beauty.
There's also a stylisation going on whereby the actors don't age throughout the narrative, as it they are beautiful beings frozen in the roles they are enacting - timeless and eternally suffering. A ravishing and quite wonderful film.