Barbe bleue

When I think of Catherine Breillat, I think of Fat Girl, Romance and Anatomy of Hell. Films that delve deep into the complex issues surrounding gender with an unabashedly confident auteur at the helm. Films that had an almost bland style but contained strong performances and incendiary ideas.

Barbe Bleue is a decent film, has some nice visuals (coupled with some really sloppy cinematography) and is pretty good for a made-for-TV movie. Viewers familiar with Breillat's other work, however, will definitely be disappointed.

Long story short, don't see this film. If you're looking for a French period piece, see Queen Margot or Cyrano de Bergerac. If you're a Breillat fan hoping this will be a return to form, you will unfortunately be quite disappointed.

Catherine Breillat's canny revision of the Bluebeard myth is rigorous and assured like her other work. This time she keeps her usual provocations at bay, but the movie is no less compelling for it, with human folly bubbling at the surface of every interaction. The casting, acting, camera work and editing are subdued but still expressive, and the director interrupts the plain and direct storytelling at just the right moments in order to get at her points--albeit in curious and elusive ways.

Some remark how this movie feels boring or its commentary is obvious, but for me the approach makes room for as much complexity and humanity as Breillat brings to her other, more notorious work. If you are a fan of the more cerebral classics of world cinema, this one courses with the energy of the old masters: traces of Buñuel's Tristana are here, as are Bresson's The Trial of Joan of Arc and Mizoguchi's Life of Oharu.

I can't tell you how disappointed and bored I was while watching this movie.

I kept hoping with all my heart that it will pick up its feet at some point and start delivering some feeling, magic, action or whatever. But alas, that was all in vain.

It keeps the same slooooooow pace from start to end, the actors keep showing the same inexpressive faces and delivering the same emotionless dialogs.

That is when they bother to speak. In the rest of the time they keep staring in some more or less distant point for quite long periods (I suppose it's meant to show us how deep they feel or think).

I don't know how the book ends... but the end of the movie looked pretty fuzzy and stupid to me.

You're never told why Blue Beard did all those horrible things or how did the little girl managed to escape.

The only good things in this movie were the costumes and locations, I guess.

All in all, if you expect some bit of fairy-tale, of magic, of fantasy or anything at all which would glue you to the chair in front of the screen, I think you'll be pretty disappointed.

I felt like I was attending a Riannesance Faire with all the costumes and dancing and people eating without utensils. It was a beautiful movie in that regard.

I wonder at the significance of Bluebeard's clothing. He wore a robe at one time that had IHS on the back, and another time, he seemed to be wearing a stole over his clothing like a priest saying Mass. A disparagement at the patriarchal Catholic Church?

But, that aside, the film which is really two stories in one, is a feminist telling of the Bluebeard story. In both stories, we see a highly patriarchal society, where women are an afterthought. The rules of men must be obeyed.

It is left up to the viewer to determine if things resolved themselves satisfactorily. A bow to Salome in one story, and wish fulfillment in sibling rivalry in another.

It is not your usual Catherine Breillat film. A PG rating would probably be stretching it, only for the blood.

I was curious about a new adaptation of this classic story. After all, there is nothing like a good old story to sustain a movie. As i watched, i was more and more surprised. I kept wondering how can a film maker do such a bad job and let it out for the public to see... I tried to give it a chance, hoping that it will improve, but i was too optimistic. I wouldn't want to criticize something to the point of convincing others to avoid it, but in this case it felt like a civic duty. To put it briefly, bad scenario, awful dialogues, unremarkable camera work, unbelievably bad cinema; a pittiful adaptation. I'm sorry to say such bad stuff about other people's work. I'm sure they didn't want to do a bad job, but sometimes that's how things go. Wish them better luck next time. OK now. Time to forget this disappointment. Don't waste time on this one.