Jon Peters Reviews: “The Last Mistress”

I feel film fans, those especially of French cinema, should know about Catherine Breillat. One reason is that female filmmakers are sadly a low number and even ones of constant output, but her films are really great. I saw her 2001 film, ‘Fat Girl’, a year ago or so and even though it a truly terrific film, the film is equally as haunting, and the final 20 minutes have not left my memory. It’s stained, in a good way. While I can’t say that her newest film, ‘The Last Mistress’ as it is called in America, is as good as ‘Fat Girl’, it’s still a pretty decent film.

The film reminds me of one of those old fashioned costumed dramas, so old fashioned that you can smell the dust in the costumes. You get the feeling like everything smells like grandma’s house, you know, that typical old person smell. I credit that in a good way to the production team and art design. They give Breillat plenty of stuff to frame. Her cinematography and framing of each shot is astounding, really good stuff here.

Besides the production, she has some really beautiful actors to fill the composition with. Fu’ad Ait Aattou plays Ryno de Marigny a young, brass libertine that will soon wed a rich girl named Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). Her grandmother is proud of this soon-to-be-union, her ‘masterpiece’ as she calls it, but her friends warn her of Ryno. There are rumors about his last mistress, Vellini (Asia Argento) and him, that they are still seeing each other. As any proper guardian would do, she invites Ryno over and asks me to tell her about Vellini. He does and this is where the film begins more as a tale of crazed erotica than a stuffy costume drama.

I will admit that it took me awhile to get into this picture and at the time I didn’t know why. I enjoyed ‘Fat Girl’ a lot like I said, so I sought out the newest Breillat film, I love Asia Argento, and the film features some violence and highly explicit sex. Now, as I write this, I have figured out why. I was expecting a big narrative dilemma to happen, something of a traditional story arc to follow. It does not have that it’s about themes and desire more than a story arc. Breillat is known for exploring themes of sexuality and violence and with ‘The Last Mistress’ who just have to be a patient viewer to have her wash these ideas onto you. If not, you’ll be bored.

As much as I love Asia Argento, she really only acts in two ways, one as we see her in films like ‘Land of the Dead’, ‘Trauma’, and in ‘XXX’, as in those she plays a sexy, girl is distress. But the other side, in which I think we are going to hopefully see more of, she actually acts. Granted Asia is Asia, and she’s type-casted more often than not. Even in here, she’s Asia. What I mean about that is she that flirtatious woman who does things her way, possibly like she does in real life. She doesn’t act like a woman, especially one in the early 1800s, but it’s her thing and as for Vellini, she excels. I know a lot of critics are praising her, and rightfully so, but this is the Asia we all know and love, just a little more stripped. There’s pathos in her actions, like a scene in which she rapes Ryno when he is asleep in the desert. She crying and is in real pain, because of the death of her daughter. The scene is a strange sight but one that works within the themes of the film.

Breillat shows the sex between Ryno and Vellini as raw as any film dares not to. I can only think of Ang Lee’s ‘Lust, Caution’ as a near example. The sex is important, but it’s their unwillingness to let the relationship corrode that makes them unbreakable. There’s a lot to like about ‘Last Mistress’; performances from Argento, Claude Sarraute, the framing of scenes, the way Breillat allows a few lines from the Gospel to creep in that adds some tension to this love affair and to the climax, or even the questioning of their love. Is it love or some high form of erotica? I wanted to love the film as much as I did ‘Fat Girl’. I think patient viewers will be rewarded for an interesting story, good performances, and great production design. As I think more about the film I like it more; Breillat gives us almost too much to digest, at least in terms of themes. The film is paced slow, too slow for most, but those willing to take a plunge into this, should do so with some trepidation. ‘Last Mistress’ is a slow burn film that you should be left with conversation about it prior to an immediate reaction.