Mademoiselle de Joncquières

Lady J was such a great surprise for me to see. I was not expecting to like this movie and I had not heard of it before streaming it on Netflix, but I loved it. This movie was filled with beautiful, over-the-top, ornate sets and costume design, with intricacies that made almost every scene fit to be painted. It also had a great soundtrack that fit the genre but was not boring. My favorite feature of Lady J was how the likability of the characters changed throughout the movie. The screenwriting and directing, of course, accomplished that, but I also saw difference in the slight mannerisms of the actors that changed with their likability changes. Since I cannot understand the spoken language, the non-verbals were very important for my understanding of the characters. Each main character was both good and bad and most acts are framed as both good and bad. My perception of who was the hero/villain, who was as the protagonist/antagonist, flawlessly ebbed between the characters and themes. Most of the characters are likable at some point, and all have some good personality traits, but throughout the movie almost all of them do morally wrong, or downright creepy or cruel, things. There seems to be something in Lady J for everyone- it's beautiful to view, fun to hear the French language and musical score, filled with compelling and realistic characters (albeit rushed in terms of character development), and overflowing with meaningful themes about societal themes and interpersonal relationships. Lady J seemed to embrace and push past the cliches of its genre to touch on human nature, the complexities of relationships, and the inherent tensions and corruptions resulting from inequality (sex, age, financial, influence, religion) and self-centeredness (delusion, self-aggrandizement, callousness, vigilante justice, lack of introspection, pride). I'm not sure how those who made this movie managed to do so, but this movie left me with renewed belief in humanity. The value of connection to other people and society and of connection to a transcendent sense of morality, justice, and emotion across humankind reveals itself throughout the movie through the failures of the characters to connect and the messy process that results from the lack of true connection to each other and humankind.

The ending is a good one, depending on which character you ask!

Madame de La Pommeraye, a young widow withdrawn from the world, gives in to the court of the Marquis des Arcis, a notorious libertine. After a few years of unfailing happiness, she discovers that the marquis has grown weary of their union. Madly in love and terribly wounded, she decides to take revenge on him with the complicity of Mademoiselle de Joncquières and her mother...

Light, sometimes too light, Emmanuel Mouret ("Let Lucie do it", "Un Baiser, s'il vous plaît") long favored (if not followed the easy route) of burlesque marivaudage. When he tried his hand at pure melodrama ("Une autre vie"), he was not really convincing. But with "Mademoiselle de Joncquières ", he seems to have found the ideal formula, namely sprinkling lightness on an underlying layer of gravity and cruelty. Diderot (from whom he here adapts an episode of "Jacques le fataliste") and the 18th century undoubtedly inspire him: subtle dialogues, deep but never sententious considerations, superb costumes, natural and interior settings. Ans his actors as well : Cécile de France, elegant and acidulous, and Édouard Baer, deceitfully languid and detached, are the perfect embodiment of this couple living what I would call their "well-mannered passion": they excel in a double game, all the more fascinating as it remains unexpressed verbally. It looks as if they wear velvet gloves with hidden points. Alongside them, two other performers shine, Alice Isaaz, as the candid and virginal Mademoiselle de Joncquières and the vivacious Laure Calamy playing a rather perfidious friend of Madame de la Pommeraye. Note that the subject had already been treated by Robert Bresson in "Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne", in a very different style.

Being unfamiliar with the director's name (Emmanuel Mouret), I searched imdb for information regarding this film. There was a single user's review which would have put me off if I had not read external reviews. Let me say right away that although we are in a different league from James Ivory's this film is beautifully crafted. The matching of home decoration with dresses is pleasing to the eye but most of all the plot is as unexpected as it is cruel and yet fair. The film was inspired by one of Diderot's novels, an author whose books I never managed to read till the end in my teens. I have enjoyed Cecile de France's subtle acting even if it might not be as profound as Emma Thompson's. Don't deny yourselves a good film!

I never write reviews, but I wanted to read one before watching and could not find one so here it is!

So many lines of this script hit me... This film is not only wonderfully written, but the acting is exquisite. The actors do a really nice job of using their expression to relay subtext which makes the movie a more full experience. Alice Isaaz is particularly emotive (in the best way). The ending will leave you satisfied without being too painfully cliche.

Don't pay attention to the negative reviews below from people that probably like action movies a bit too much and watch this! The movie does start off a bit slow but Édouard Baer and Cecile de France manage to convey their emotions without overacting (something that is too common in this kind of movies). The plot is great and the slow descent into hell of the main character is well orchestrated.

Overall, i was very pleasantly surprised and would recommend this movie to anyone with a bit of sensitivity.