Belle du Seigneur

There's no point to this movie.

Terribly thin plot, with barely anything remembering.

I don't want to spoil anything, but what is there to spoil? Watch the trailer. That's the film.

The characters have something closer to a backstory than a story arc. The events are closer to anecdotes than plot points.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays another version of Henry Tudor. Vodianova plays a pretty girl. They have an affair. That's the film right there.

Not a spoiler: either the affair ends or the film ends before it does. There's only two possible outcomes. One of these two is the ending. Probably.

There you go. That's about it.

The film is unfortunately a deceptive adaptation of this great and complicate XXth century love story novel by Albert Cohen. Some women friends of mine commented, it's pretty unconceivable to understand how a male writer could so well understand and describe and write (about) woman's psychology, woman's inside.

I loved the book a lot but not the film, pretty poor. I like Meyers as an actor but here, imho, he looks too young (he was 35 then) as Solal, even if Solal had a vertiginous social climb.

At about 31 minutes into the film, we can see a very nice wood house at the Geneva lake. I knew the (unnice) owners so I went there once or twice. For the ones interested, you can see it in Promenthoux at 46.391986° 6.267007° in Google Maps.

Outstanding scenery in Italy and Switzerland, international struggle during WWII, human fragility, human struggle, conflict on issues and the directives from the League of Nations from a Jewish point of view. This is also the first time Natalia Vodianova has combined her modeling career with acting, which is promising. I particularly enjoyed seeing European hotels and houses and the architecture of the settings. Solal portrays a troubled individual who appears to be looking for a way out, believing in his position he cannot change the rigidity of the LON. There is also the issue of the role of women during that time-frame and some of Ariana's struggles. Adapted from a book of the same name from a respected French novelist. I would certainly watch this again, you get the feeling there's pieces of the story that you're missing the first time watching

Belle du seigneur (the book) is the most beautiful declaration of love I've ever read so obviously I was intrigued when I saw that the movie existed. What a disappointment. The actors are terrible. (Particularly Natalia Vodianova... seriously ?!). The movie can't even begin to describe Ariane and Solal's passion.

This is also known as "A Grand Affair ".

The movie did nothing for me, though I enjoyed the glorious settings in Europe (especially Italy) and the stunning architecture. The era is WWII, the story portraying miserable, dislikable characters. We have the Don Juan scenario of Jonathan Rhys-Myers' character, Solal (a high level exec at the then League of Nations in Geneva) seducing his subordinate Adrien's wife Ariane (Natalia Vodianova). Ariane succumbs willingly after a couple of meetings, Adrien is kicked into professional obscurity and the other two embark on their journey of passion.

Then follows scene after scene of sex, fighting, self-introspection, more fighting, more sex. Solal, who - despite his self-assurance as an experienced seducer - seems unsure of himself, fixating on Ariane's past lovers and getting violent; she walks away, comes back (to more sex and introspection). And thus it goes.

Other viewers will no doubt find deeper meaning here, but really how much sex does one need to get it across? The backdrops, costumes, buildings are lovely to behold but ultimately cannot carry the story on their own. One has to be invested in the characters, and I wasn't.