| The Bridesmaid | |
|---|---|
DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Claude Chabrol |
| Produced by | Françoise Galfré Patrick Godeau |
| Screenplay by | Claude Chabrol Pierre Leccia |
| Based on | The Bridesmaid by Ruth Rendell |
| Starring | Benoît Magimel Laura Smet |
| Music by | Matthieu Chabrol |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Serra |
| Editing by | Monique Fardoulis |
| Studio | Alicéléo Canal Diffusion France 2 Cinéma Integral Film |
| Distributed by | First Run Features |
| Release date(s) | 7 September 2004 (Venice Film Festival) 28 July 2006 (USA) |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | France Italy Germany |
| Box office | $111,143 (USA) |
The Bridesmaid. is a 2004 co-written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Its title in French is La Demoiselle d'honneur. The film was based on the novel The Bridesmaid by Ruth Rendell.
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Philippe (Magimel) lives in a rural French village with his mother Christine (Clément) who is a hairdresser and with his two younger sisters. One day, a local girl who has mysteriously disappears. Soon after, Philippe's mother introduces her children to Gerard (Le Coq) -- a wealthy local businessman who appears interested in pursuing her. She gives him a sculpture of the Roman goddess Flora that had Philippe had given her which was in the family garden.
Not too long after receiving the gift, Gerard appears to vanish without a trace. Philippe makes it his mission to recover the sculpture. He finally tracks it down and places it in his closet without telling anyone. Later, at his sister's wedding, Philippe meets attractive bridesmaid Senta (Smet) and the two quickly fall for each other passionately. She is a model and aspiring actress who lives alone in a huge villa which she inherited from her father. The sexy Senta may be beautiful and irresistible, yet she also seems to have several macabre ideas about life, love, and death. As their affair intensifies, she asks him to kill a stranger to prove his life. He at first thinks she is joking but then realizes she is actually serious about carrying out the plan.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Benoît Magimel | Philippe Tardieu |
| Laura Smet | Stéphanie "Senta" Bellange |
| Aurore Clément | Christine |
| Bernard Le Coq | Gérard Courtois |
| Solène Bouton | Sophie Tardieu |
| Anna Mihalcea | Patricia Tardieu |
| Thomas Chabrol | Lieutenant José Laval |
The film was well received by critics. Website metacritic.com assigned a 74 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[1]
Desson Thomas of The Washington Post:
| “ | Chabrol arranges his story with a subtle, almost clinical accumulation. And it takes close attention to the movie's seemingly innocuous details to understand his deeper purposes. But the filmmaker has never been as interested in the machinations of plot as much as aberrant human nature... its rewards come from sustained concentration rather than from relaxed observation.[2] | ” |
Ty Burr of The Boston Globe:
| “ | The film reveals its secrets slowly, and Chabrol tightens the screws not according to the rules of Hollywood suspense but with a cool, level gaze. Of the great filmmakers of the French New Wave, he may have changed the least over the years, and there's a continuity of tone and morbid inquiry that runs from Le Boucher (1970) through La Ceremonie (1995, and also based on Rendell) to The Bridesmaid. Comparisons to Hitchcock have been made throughout his career, but they serve to define differences more than similarities. Hitch made movie suspense showy and fun. Chabrol grounds it in realism and ponders the hazy line where eccentricity turns homicidal.[3] | ” |
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