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Benoît Magimel,
Benoît Magimel,
Laura Smet,
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Claude Chabrol,
Claude Chabrol
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: First Run Features
: Drama, Foreign, Suspense/Thriller, Romance
: 110 min.
: French
: English
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The master of French suspense joins forces with the queen of English suspense fiction for this tense tale of the treacherous love affair between a disturbed bridesmaid and an unsuspecting young man. Philippe (Benoit Magimel) lives in a quiet French town with his hairdresser mother Christine (Aurore Clément) and two younger sisters. Soon after the news breaks about a local girl who has mysteriously vanished, Philippe's mother introduces her children to Gerard (Bernard Le Coq) -- a local businessman who may have matrimonial intentions toward the attractive beautician. Soon after receiving permission from her children to present Gerard with a sculpture of a woman's head that had previously adorned the family garden, however, the elusive beau seems to disappear without a trace. Philippe is intent on recovering the captivating piece of art, and after stealthily recovering it in a clandestine mission he places it in his closet without telling the rest of the family. Later, at his sister's wedding, Philippe meets attractive bridesmaid Senta (Laura Smet) and passion between the pair quickly ignites during a stormy seduction. A model and aspiring actress who lives alone in a massive villa inherited from her father, sultry Senta may be physically irresistible, yet she also seems to have a few morbid preconceptions about life, love, and death. As the affair between the pair grows increasingly heated, Philippe at first takes her request to murder a stranger as a means of proving his love as a joke. The more he gets to know her the more that it appears that Senta is in fact deadly serious about her dark request. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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| Chabrol in Good Form
by talltale
March 20, 2007 - 4:34 PM PDT
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6 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| Claude Chabrol's THE BRIDESMAID is another of his precisely off-kilter melodramas of familial "love," revenge, obsession and murder served up in a manner that should leave you exquisitely unsatisfied. Featuring upcoming French hottie and excellent actor Benoit Magimel (The Nest, The Piano Teacher) and the pretty (and, here, pretty creepy) young actress Laura Smet (Gilles' Wife) plus Aurore Clement, Bernard Le Coq, Michel Duchaussoy and the late/great Suzanne Flon, the cast already makes this movie a "must" for Francophiles. Beyond that, Chabrol, as director and co-writer (from yet another Ruth Rendell novel: the two do seem to share a bond), again explores the underside of the French bourgeoisie as it comes up against repressed feelings that are suddenly too much to contain. The wild card here is the character played by Ms. Smet, who carries our hero--and the movie--over the top. If "The Bridesmaid" is not among this wonderfully fecund director's best--it's a tad too lengthy and the pacing seems a bit off--for his fans, it's still too good to miss. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.36)
14 Votes
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