Mademoiselle de Joncquières

Madame de La Pommeraye, a young widow withdrawn from the world, gives in to the court of the Marquis des Arcis, a notorious libertine.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.

Highest rating because I am happy the French can still pull off films that are fully in character with the culture of the 18th century. This film is right up there with "Ridicule" and, even Dangerous Liaisons.

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.

I came into this not knowing what to expect but some kind of love story. Though it started off slow and continued to spectacularly fail the Bechdel test, it grew strongly into a curiously entertaining romp, aided by an almost pantomime score. The best part was that it could be viewed as a light comedy, but should the viewer deign to scratch the surface, they would notice the bitter pill under the sugar coating. The movie alludes to a number of human themes, mostly around forgiveness and redemption, and for the discerning viewer there is a lot more to enjoy than at first might meet the eye

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.