Feb 13 2008
Duchess of Langeais
Directed: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu
A woman flirts with a general who proclaims his love for her, but she does not return the love while teasing that she might one day. When he is finally fed up, she realizes she is in love with him, but it is too late. Seen at the Portland International Film Festival.
What I thought would be a bodice-ripping, French romance set in the 1820s was a horribly dull mess. I had hopes when the general declared his love for the duchess after meeting her for a total of five minutes, which was completely unbelievable, but I was going to go with it. Nothing happened though! She would offer him her hand to kill or possibly her forehead. How sexy! She wanted to keep up appearances since Paris was so vain and she did not want to be part of gossip. I thought back in those days everyone had lovers, but they did it in secret. I guess you couldn’t keep anything secret with his leg.
