SYNOPSICS
La demoiselle d'honneur (2004) is a French movie. Claude Chabrol has directed this movie. Benoît Magimel,Laura Smet,Aurore Clément,Bernard Le Coq are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2004. La demoiselle d'honneur (2004) is considered one of the best Thriller,Drama,Romance movie in India and around the world.
A middle class family in Loire, where things seem just a tad off kilter. Philippe dotes on his mother, who has raised his two sisters and him. Gérard, a wealthy man just divorced, is paying attention to her, then drops her. Philippe is actually pleased, and retrieves from Gérard's garden a stone head - of the goddess Flora - that his mother had given Gérard. At the wedding of one of his sisters, Philippe meets Senta, a quirky and moody young woman: they fall quickly in love, despite her odd behaviors and Philippe's general good sense. Senta announces a plan for them to prove their love to each other; it involves poetry, tree planting, and murder. What will Philippe do?
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La demoiselle d'honneur (2004) Reviews
Rendell-Chabrol : a good match.
Just like Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell is a perfect inspiration to Claude Chabrol. Following Patricia Highsmith's example, Ruth Rendell minutely explores the troubled minds of unbalanced characters and the effects of their dangerous conduct on the people they mix with, the latter unaware of their mental imbalance. And what is director Chabrol pet theme? Just that! This second child of a love match ( "La Demoiselle d'Honneur" is "La Cérémonie"'s younger sister ) is - unsurprisingly - as good as the first product of their encounter. This time around, two hearts, two bodies are irrepressibly attracted to each other but will the sick mind of one contaminate the other's healthy brain? This is what the story is about and fascination slowly but surely finds its way to the viewer. Indeed Chabrol's talent mainly lies in his ability to make the story shift from the ordinary ( Philippe's family life, his job, the wedding ) to the uncanny ( Senta's odd ideas, the queer characters living in a bizarre house, Senta's sincere love tainted with unsettling ideas). Benoît Magimel and Laura Smet embody the cursed couple to perfection. In addition, there are excellent supporting performances, mainly from Aurore Clément ( the mother whose suffering is made apparent despite the character's efforts to hide it ), from young Anna Mihalcea ( striking as a young tortured rebel ) and from Michel Duchaussoy ( very amusing as good-natured tramp ). All this fine movie lacks to be a genuine masterpiece is an extra dose of intensity. But , as it is, it's quite worth seeing.
La Demoiselle d'Honneur
Having read the book 'The Bridesmaid', I was gratified that this film was a very good representation of it. It kept close to the story and did not alter anything. Even though my image of Senta as she is portrayed in the book was different to that of the one in the film, it didn't matter as her personality was accurately portrayed - indeed, all the characters were excellent. Benoit Magimel was exactly how I imagined the main character, both in looks and behaviour. The impact of the events would have been greater to those who haven't read the book (ie I knew what was going to happen) but I found it satisfying and would highly recommend this film. Ruth Rendell's plots are so clever, with a twist in the tail, and it is important that a film captures this, and Chabrol manages it perfectly.
Age and Youth = Sublimity!
Director Claude Chabrol has been around a long time, and actor Benoit Magimel is a comparative newcomer, but their chemistry results in a sublime entertainment. Magimel had a supporting role in Chabrol's last film ("La Fleur du Mal"), but here he's top-billed and he's superb. As a hard-working sales rep for a French home-improvement firm, Magimel projects his diverse skills with great subtlety. He portrays the dutiful, loving son to a hard-working single mom and older brother to two sisters (one, a preoccupied bride-to-be, and the other a snotty layabout), and he's a real straight-arrow, jacket-and-necktie clad guy. But he meets one wild and messy love-target at his sister's wedding. This thoroughly disorganized and slovenly young woman may (or may not) be a certifiable fruitcake and chronic liar, but -- through her -- our very proper sales rep is introduced to carnage and murder on a major scale. Watch Magimel's handsome but expressive face as he struggles with new-found passion, love, doubt, dismay, fear, loathing and about a hundred other mixed emotions. If you don't know his prior work, you'll be discovering an actor of consummate skill. And with this twisty, funny and consistently suspenseful film, you'll be enjoying one of the best films in Chabrol's long and distinguished career.
The bridesmaid
Ruth Rendell's novel "The Bridesmaid" is the basis for this French film directed by Claude Chabrol. The director had a huge success adapting another Rendell's book, "A Judgment in Stone" that became the hit "La Ceremonie". Ms. Rendell stories always have a central flawed character, as is the case with Senta, a strange young woman. The story begins as Sophie and her sister Patricia are watching a news program on television, a sensational crime is in the headlines. Their single mother, Christine, works as a hairdresser from her modest, but comfortable home. Philippe, who is the other member of this family does not approve of the man his mother is seeing. To make matters worse, Christine's intentions of involve keeping Gerard Courtois, who clearly has no intention of marrying her. As the wedding approaches, a bridesmaid is needed to complete the party, the groom suggest a cousin, Stephanie, a strange young woman who has named herself Senta, after the heroine of the Wagner opera, The Flying Dutchman. At the party that follows the wedding, Senta meets Philippe, who finds her intriguing. Their relationship will have fatal consequences because of Senta's strange behavior and possessiveness. We had a vivid recollection of the novel, which we enjoyed tremendously. The adaptation of Mr. Chabrol and his collaborator Pierre Leccia, while following the story line of the novel turns out to be not as involving than the written page, although the director gets the essence of the book. Benoit Maginel, a young French actor had worked with Mr. Chabrol prior to this film, and went to star in 'La fille coupee en deux", does well as Philippe, the young man that falls hopelessly in love with a deranged woman. Laura Smet plays Senta, the woman who drives Philippe crazy. Aurore Clement appears as Christine, the mother. Michel Duchaussoy has a brief role as the vagrant that annoys Senta. Eduardo Serra, the cinematographer, keeps the dark atmosphere of the novel in check with the gray skies of Nantes and locations around Loire-Atlantique to great effect. The soundtrack is by the director's own son Matthieu. Even though this is not one of the best films by Mr. Chabrol, it must be viewed by all his fans.
A very good Chabrol movie...very close to being a master-piece
This is a very good Chabrol movie. To me, probably his best since "Merci Pour Le Chocolat". The "atmosfear" was captivating, the script well written. The casting is great. The sets were mysterious (the old castle, for example). Well, to make a long story short, if you like Claude Chabrol's suspense movies, please, do yourself a favour and watch this one. Much better than the previous one, "La Demoiselle D'Honneur", was, I think, innovative enough to mark the mind of even his (Claude Chabrol's) long time fans in the deepest way. If he's physically getting old, as we all do, Chabrol's mind is still very sharp and a joy to explore. In a word, the French Hitchcock is back in top form ! May be the Ruth Rendall background of this movie gives it its best aspects. "La Demoiselle d'Honneur" is a kind of child-movie to an older Chabrol's masterpiece called "La Cérémonie".