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Asia Argento, Fu'ad Ait Aatou, Roxane Mesquida, Claude Sarraute, Yolande Moreau ... see more see more... , Michael Lonsdale , Anne Parillaud , Amira Casar , Lio , Caroline Ducey , Isabelle Renauld , Jean-Philippe Tesse , Nicholas Hawtrey

Catherine Breillat's adaptation of An Old Mistress stars Fu'ad Ait Aatou as Ryno de Marigny, and Asia Argento as Vellini, two lovers in 19th century Paris. The two have been passionately involved for ... read more read more...nearly a decade, but de Marigny attempts to end their relationship now that he is engaged to Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), a respectable young woman. As the bride-to-be's grandmother forces de Marigny to confront his past as a notorious womanizer, the film flashes back to reveal the intense decade the lovers shared. Although de Marigny appears to want to shut Vellini out forever, her passions may be far too much for him to deny. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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Unrated, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: Catherine Breillat

Release Date: May 25, 2007

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DVD Release Date: March 1, 2009

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Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress) As if he were plucked from an 18th century painting in this photo from The Last Mistress! Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress) (An Old Mistress) Beautiful, mysterious Ryno in The Last Mistress Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress) (An Old Mistress) Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress) (An Old Mistress)
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Flixster Reviews (366)

  • newvogueravyn
    September 18, 2009
    newvogueravyn
    Although the period detail is beautiful I just wasn't drawn in by the plot or the characters. It's a shame as I liked the sound of it so much.
  • groaningbitch
    August 10, 2009
    groaningbitch
    "the last mistress" is the work of art from the director who's made "romance", catherine breillat, and it's much more reserved and polished due to its backset time-scale than breillant's any other sensationalistic piece. frankly, as a fervent feministic provocateur, breillant has... read more always been a little bit too politically contrived on the bedroom matters when she seals her relentlessly cynic mockeries to genders and marital legimacy. somehow that characteristic spoils the genuine artistic success she may have ever had. "the last mistress" is another achetypical example of her radical viewpoint which is also very avant-gardistly cliched: sex, the physical desire could override any santuary reverence men have over innocence, purity and the institution of marriage, no matter how much you may love a person, but you still listen to your genital down below at any cost, you may feel agonic and very much in pain but you just cannot help it, so women're better off without the bondage of men, be the dominatrix who masters over men.....come on, tell or advocate me something which i haven't heard or read in these three decades of feministic movements.

    in a nutshell, the tale goes like this: a penniless libertine swoons a beautiful chaste woman of higher birth, the jewel of french aristocracy, but he has a hard time terminating his 10 year affair with a wild gypsy-like she-devil, a seed of illegitimate union(princess and matador). the male libertine deserts his mistress for the virginal lily, and he believes he's whole-heartedly in love, then this gluttonish she-devil traces him to his newlywed chateau to re-kindle their illict sparkle. then the man succumbs...later, his wife discovers then has a miscarriage by broken-heart. eventually the libertine has ruined the happiness of his precious wife as everyone predicts. the classic quotation here would be "in love, the first to suffer has lost"....

    undoubtedly, the she-devil is played by the notably spunky italian actress asia argento who's been taking roles of brave indiscreet women since the 90s, her smashing performance in 1998 "b monkey",,,then her role is always tough woman-rebel or daredevil whore...i've always been amazed by her gritty beauty, and i've never found any character she performed abrasive despite the inevitably repeated typecasting until the moment after i watched "the last mistress"...her interpretion is fine and perhaps argento is the only actress who could render this role due to her winsome features which are literily designed for this role. but i've got to admit, asia argento's no longer the same fresh-faced ingenuine who toys between reckless seductiveness and brittle naivete that i saw 10 years ago in her american debute "b monkey"...she's upgraded into a more spiteful lilith-like being who ruminates and devours in full masterful manipulation in catherine breillant's "the last mistress" which definitely decreases her likability.(or she just ain't that gorgeous as she was in 1998?)

    the castings of the leads are absolutely a gallery of striking fair youth, and the male protagonist has a pair of juicy smackable lips, eyes of sheer transparent blue, and skin made of milky streaks of porcelain, same for the blonde-haired woman-protagonist, so statuesque like people who stride out of europe's classical paintings. somehow that makes the setting even more peculiar and oddly persuasive, accompanied by such cherishable beauty, you would still like to cheat with a third party who may not rival your wife? perhaps the ignition of lust could surpass any romantic sentimentality you've been deeply inspired. the director's camera frame has manifested well on that by a shot of the man's wedding ring and the illict woman's snake-shaped bracelet.

    this movie's made with some refinement which surprises me since it's done by the same brazen woman who chooses to bare a vaginal frontal scene and have his lead woman sex with a real porn actor in "romance"...but honestly i'm still deeply annoyed by her sexual politics in this latest movie of hers. why, as a woman, she has to be so tremendously selfish just for the sake of shameless unbridled freedom even it would cause pain to others??? it even features one scene where argento's character smirks at the cornered seat of church when the man's wedding is to be proceed on with some drab bliblical admonisments for marital virtues on women as if she lures the man just to defy church out of taunting contempt...would she care the other party which's never done any damage to her? personally if that's the necessary attitude to pronounce your feminist right, it's better to have no part of it when your blissful emancipation has to be built by the sacrifice of those irrelevant people. wouldn't woman, in this case, just descends into the accomplice of man to wreck other woman's life?
  • bookmunki
    July 30, 2009
    bookmunki
    from a plot standpoint, we've seen this one before -- it's reminiscent of 'dangerous liaisons' and 'dangerous beauty.' the story line is framed by a chorus of mediocrity. what sparks and differentiates this film is argento's performance. she is purely and unapolegetically carnal... read more. she is like a mix of frida khalo's masculinity and cleopatra's seductress. i'm not sure how much of this character is acted, but it is quintessentially asia argento.
  • deano
    August 18, 2008
    deano
    This French epic movie directed by Catherine Breillat is like Jane Austen meets Last Tango in Paris. Scoiflty and deftly immersing me in the fashions - not just the clothes and decor, but also the changing sexual and social ethics - of the 1830s.
  • dunmyer
    July 9, 2008
    dunmyer
    [size=3]"The Last Mistress," starring the European phenomenon [b]Asia Argento[/b], has the standard strengths and weaknesses of a French film. But unfortunately the strengths are not that strong and the weaknesses are quite major. Thus this new film from writer/director [b]Cather... read moreine Breillat[/b] cannot be recommended. Many times during the second half of the film I had to fight the urge to leave the theater.[/size]

    [img]http://www.sofacinema.co.uk/guardian/images/products/4/103884-large.jpg[/img]
    [size=3]The best thing about the film by far is the performance of the stunning young actor who plays the male lead and who has an unpronounceable name: [b]Fu'ad Ait Aattou[/b]. He is an actor to watch. He has the kind of seething, instinctive passion that Ms. Argento had when she first burst on the screen. [/size]

    [size=3]Sadly Ms. Argento seems to be drifting creatively. She's a full-fledged phenomenon, but I think she's now just resting on her laurels. I don't see any growth in her craft here. Worse, she seems to be parodying herself. There were many times in "The Last Mistress" where I found Argento's acting laughable. The film is set in 1830s Paris, and Ms. Argento looks like she walked in from the set of a porn film shooting at the studio next door, and not a particularly good porn film.[/size]
    [size=3][/size]

    [img]http://z.about.com/d/worldfilm/1/0/v/x/unevieillemaitresse_scene_04.jpg[/img]

    [size=3]Even the costumes looked ridiculous on Argento, as if they were costumes left over from a spoof by Carol Burnett of nineteenth-century Spanish women.[/size]

    [size=3]I found Mr. Aattou's work infinitely more authentic than Argento's. He seemed cut from the same cloth as Byron. Aattou has other-worldly beauty, reminiscent of a young Marlon Brando, and he has magnificent stage presence. He's not just a pretty face, moreover. His inner life as an actor and his intelligence are as palpable as his beauty.[/size]
    [size=3]The typical strengths of French cinema are on display here. Firstly, there is an intelligent sense of history. Breillat clearly knows something about how the 18th and 19th centuries differed in France. In some ways, "The Last Mistress" is about the struggle between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, a struggle which so embroiled Central and Western Europe in the early 19th century and led to so many revolutions and counter-revolutions. But Breillat does not push this theme very far. It's a subtext, and not a pronounced one.[/size]


    [size=3][still working on this][/size]


    [img]http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/lff/files/images/last_mistress_01.jpg[/img]


    [img]http://z.about.com/d/worldfilm/1/0/8/y/unevieillemaitresse_scene_18.jpg[/img]
  • gator681
    July 21, 2008
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"The Last Mistress" starts in 1835 Paris where Ryno de Marginy(Fu'ad Ait Aattou), minor nobleman and all around reprobate, has just gotten engaged to Hermangarde(Roxane Mesquida), a wealthy member of the nobility. Polite society hopes this will turn around h... read moreis life and is gloating about his dumping his longtime mistress, Vellini(Asia Argento).[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Just because Catherine Breillat, the high priestess of provocation, has made a sumptuous but talky(so much so that she gets dangerously close to Eric Rohmer territory.) period piece with "The Last Mistress" does not mean that she is making a bid for respectability which puts her on the same level with her heroine, who she has quite a bit of sympathy for. In 19th century Paris, Vellini, 36, is beyond the age when any reputable woman should be married. The fact that she is also promiscuous, fond of sex, smokes cigars, leaves and departs the opera when it pleases her and on one very special occasion, dresses in men's clothes makes her a further outcast amongst the nobility that she socializes with. Breillat takes her story and uses it to explore the notion of love outside of marriage. Now, if only she had an actress with more talent than presence in the lead role.[/font]
  • kylemydude
    April 17, 2011
    kylemydude
    Watch this movie with your significant other. :) A very sexy movie, and a brilliant timepiece. Even if you don't have a significant other like myself(SADFACE), still go and watch it. It is very well written, has some great performances, and one of the steamiest films I've seen in... read more some time.
  • PinkMinkPrincess
    January 3, 2012
    PinkMinkPrincess
    Although not in the mood for subtitles(keeps me from multitasking),I found this to be beautifully well done & well worth the trouble.
  • interkosmos
    February 22, 2010
    interkosmos
    Without losing any subversive edge, Catherine Breilliat announces her incursion into the pantheon of 'serious' film makers with this relatively subdued period piece.

    Gone for the moment are the easy provocations and in their place a more mature, subdued autopsy of the sexual po... read morelitics that are Breillats stock in trade.

    The images have a casual loveliness reminescent of ken russell or derek jarman's approach to costume drama, asia argento is at her caged animal best and fu'ad aattou is channeling a young mick jagger of sorts.
  • rickrudge
    January 6, 2010
    rickrudge
    The Last Mistress (2007)

    I'm unfamiliar with director Catherine Breillat previous works. I've heard that she's a famous feminist director. This movie is based on Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly's novel and is an erotic french costume drama. As I'm a big fan of Asia Argento's ... read moremovies, I couldn't pass this up.

    Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou) is an infamous libertine and has been engaged to a beautiful, virginal, rich, aristocrat, Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). All of Paris is astounded that this marriage is doomed. The Viscont de Prony (Michael Lonsdale) and his Wife have been warning Hermangarde's Grandmother, the Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute) of Ryno's 10 year affair with Vellini Annesley(Asia Argento).

    The worldly Marquise de Flers is aware that most marriages don't last 10 years and asks Ryno to explain his affair with Vellini before she can consent to the upcoming wedding. Ryno is perfectly candid, spending most of the night telling her every sordid detail of their torrid love affair. Of course, we're able to see everything too. Somehow, he is able to convince her that he and Vellini are over.

    Both Ryno and Vellini are oddly androgynous to each other, with Ryno a swollen-lipped, soft, pale-skinned romantic and Vellini a capricious, cigar-smoking, sexually aggressive temptress. They are obviously drawn to each other, although can it still be considered love?

    Perhaps, I'm too infatuated with Asia Argento, but I can see where Ryno is coming from, and I really enjoyed this film.

View All Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress) (An Old Mistress) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Michael Phillips
October 18, 2008
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Argento seizes each scene with both hands, adding surprising layers of feeling as she goes. Full Review

Rafer Guzman
October 18, 2008
Rafer Guzman, Newsday

It's devastating. Full Review

Robert Abele
October 18, 2008
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

[An] entertaining, elegantly shot adaptation of Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's 19th century novel. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
August 1, 2008
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

It's characteristic of the virtues and limitations of French sexual provocateur Catherine Breillat...that they usually derive from the same source--the fearless determination to skirt the borders of c... Full Review

Ty Burr
July 25, 2008
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Cool, carnal, and lethal, The Last Mistress is a period drama with a difference. Full Review

Tom Long
July 25, 2008
Tom Long, Detroit News

There's a brittle pomp and circumstance to The Last Mistress, which suddenly turns into a sensual witch's dance, once star Asia Argento is let loose about a third of the way into the film. Full Review

Kamal Al-Solaylee
July 25, 2008
Kamal Al-Solaylee, Globe and Mail

Despite an austere budget and some minor anachronisms, The Last Mistress proves that Breillat has found something in the luscious language of the 19th century that makes sense to us today. Full Review

Susan Walker
July 25, 2008
Susan Walker, Toronto Star

A costume drama with an emphasis on costume over drama. Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann
July 21, 2008
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

Asia Argento, as Vellini, is a firebrand, a woman who is attractive even in non-seductive moments when she is angry or downcast or 'off-stage.' Full Review

Mick LaSalle
July 18, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

[Breillat] is inviting us to really look at sex as it occurs in life, and to engage with it mentally, as a driving mystery of human existence. Full Review

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