Instead of watching this dreadful costume bore by French director Catherine Breillat, go rent a DVD of Bizet’s Carmen (I like the one with Julia Migenes -Johnson). Considering the amount of sex and nudity, it should be termed an uncostumed drama. Set in 1835 Paris it springs on the unsuspecting viewer the stormy, violent, self-centered affair of a penniless nobleman named Ryno De Marigny and his slightly older mistress, a Spanish courtesan named Vellini. She refuses to be cast aside for his marriage to a monied, beautiful granddaughter of the highest levels of the French aristocracy. An idiot could predict that he sooner or later betrays his young bride for the lunatic Spaniard.
The Spanish courtesan is played by Asia Argento, who is no beauty but occasionally sexy.
Boring though it is overall, the scenes when the two later lovers insult each other are quite entertaining as are the scenes between two elderly aristocrats, who were lovers once upon a time themselves. These two grayhairs scheme to prevent the marriage which they quite sagely predict will lead to disaster.
If only those two elderly aristocrats would have reviewed movies, and I could have been prevented from the disaster of wasting two hours of my life and $16. Maybe this could be Breillat’s last picture?
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