La damigella d'onore

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.

In Lille, the hairdresser Christine (Aurore Clément) has raised her son and two daughters alone. Philippe Tardieu (Benoît Magimel), who works in a renovation company; Sophie Tardieu (Solène Bouton), who is going to marry Jacky (Eric Seigne) in a couple of days; and Patricia Tardieu (Anna Mihalcea),who seems to be using drugs, live with their mother in a middle-class house where Christine works. Now, while a teenager is vanished in the city, Christine invites her son and daughters to meet her boyfriend, the wealthy Gérard Courtois (Bernard Le Coq) that has just divorced and is selling his house. She gives her garden stone head of the goddess of flowers Flora that Philippe adores to Gérard that tells her that he has a business travel to Italy on the next day, but he disappears from Christine's life. In Sophie's wedding, Philippe meets her sexy bridesmaid and Jacky's cousin Stéphanie "Senta" Bellange (Laura Smet) and they have one night stand. Despite the odd behavior of the unstable and apparently imaginative Senta, Philippe immediately falls in love with her and she suggests four weird things to prove their love: planting a tree; writing a poem; having homosexual intercourse; and killing a person. When a homeless beggar is found murdered in the harbor, Philippe decides to fantasize that he had murdered the man to prove his love to Senta. On the next morning, when he wakes-up, Senta tells that she had murdered Gérard to please Philippe and describes her crime in details. Philippe decides to visit Gérard to find the truth about Senta.

"La Demoiselle d'Honneur" is an engaging thriller by Claude Chabrol that slightly recalls Alfred Hitchcock style in "Strangers on a Train". The story has many subplots to divert the viewer and the twists are excellent. This is the first movie that I have seen with the sexy and gorgeous Laura Smet and I loved her performance, in a totally different type of psychopath. Like in other films of this director, the ending is open to interpretation and I believe that Philippe has indeed called the police, but will try to help Senta during her imprisonment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Dama de Honra" ("The Bridesmaid")

Note: On 14 January 2025, I saw this film again.

At his sister's wedding, a young man falls for a bridesmaid who harbors some weird ideas and may have a disturbing past. Chabrol is regarded as the French Hitchcock, and this film has some parallels with "Strangers on a Train," but it's not as taut and suspenseful as that classic. Chabrol here seems to be more interested in character development and relationships than in the plot. In fact, between a slow beginning and an unsatisfying ending, what little plot there is is rather predictable. However, it manages to be engaging despite these shortcomings. The pacing is leisurely but not boring. It has a good cast.

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".

I really like the books of Ruth Rendell, some under the pseudonym as Barbara Vine and she had published some 80 books. Claude Chabrol I also like and he had made something like 60 films, some of them wonderful. He made a couple of his of Rendell's, the first one was The Ceremony (1995) a great film made out of, A Judgement in Stone. Later on, this film was made in 2004, and from her's of the same title. The book is fine but unusually with Chabrol in this one I'm not sure he really gets it quite right here. It is a bit complicated and a rather odd tale and I think he wanted it to be amusing as well, but maybe it wasn't a good idea. It is interesting but with the stone head with bed, the candles and no people, and some dead but not dead, maybe it is just too much going on.