Where many costume dramas drip nostalgia for the magnificence of country manors and period frocks, Catherine Breillat’s film pins the past down like a butterfly for anatomical study. Based on a 19th-Century classic by Barbey d’Aurevilly, it’s set in an era when elders could wile away hours bitchily plotting the downfall of unsuitable betrothals. Dashing Ryno de Marigny (Fu’ad Aït Aattou) is due to end his scoundrel days by wedding the virtuous Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), when said schemers call on old flame Vellini (Asia Argento) to seduce him… As the liaisons grow more dangerous, Breillat masterfully exposes seething undercurrents of jealousy and desire.
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