Last Mistress, The

80

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IFC Films (104 minutes)
and Catherine Breillat
Asia Argento , Fu'ad Ait Aattou , Roxane Mesquida , Claude Sarraute , and Yolande Moreau

Rating: Not Rated

Summary: The Last Mistress marks the monumental pairing of cinema's premiere provocateur, director Catherine Breillat with the most fearless and explosive actor of our generation, Asia Argento. A penniless rogue, Ryno de Marigny, shocks 19th century France with his engagement to the virginal gem of the aristocracy, Hermangarde. As lurid speculations of Ryno's ten year affair with the carnal Vellini manifest, a supremely erotic and wickedly humorous depiction of human lust is revealed - overriding the brittle facade of nobility and reverence. Bolstered by Breillat's mastery of the medium and Argento's commanding performance, The Last Mistress is a highly entertaining yet incredibly provocative film that has resulted in unanimous praise from audiences and critics across the world. (IFC Films)

Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times:
(90) The Catherine Breillat-directed period piece is an extreme cinematic pleasure, a well-told yarn of merciless desire.

Matthew Sorrento
Film Threat:
(90) Here Breillat directs one of the most thrilling actresses working today, and the latter makes this calculated study into a tale brimming with passion and sorrow.

J. Hoberman
Village Voice:
(90) A highly entertaining adaptation of French dandy Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly's mid-19th-century novel Une vieille maîtresse.

Manohla Dargis
The New York Times:
(90) What’s explicit here is ravenous passion and the depiction of desire as a creating, destroying force that invades the very flesh. It's terribly French.

Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com:
(90) This explicit movie about a sexually insatiable 19th century courtesan emerges like an erotic dream.

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