La passion Béatrice (1987)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Bertrand Tavernier

Writer:

Colo Tavernier (writer)

Release Date:

April 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Somewhere in France during the Middle Ages. Béatrice is impatient to see her father return from English captivity...

Plot Keywords:

Middle Ages | 1300s | Father Daughter Incest | Crusades | Disillusionment

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu	...	François de Cortemart
Julie Delpy	...	Béatrice de Cortemart
Nils Tavernier	...	Arnaud de Cortemart
Monique Chaumette	...	La mère de François
Robert Dhéry	...	Raoul
Michèle Gleizer	...	Hélène
Maxime Leroux	...	Richard
Jean-Claude Adelin	...	Bertrand Lemartin
Jean-Louis Grinfeld	...	Maître Blanche
Claude Duneton	...	Le prêtre
Isabelle Nanty	...	La Nourrice
Jean-Luc Rivals	...	Jehan
Roseline Villaume	...	Marie
Maïté Maillé	...	La Noiraude
Albane Guilhe	...	La Recluse
Marie Privat	...	Marguerite
Sébastien Konieczny	...	François enfant
Vincent Saint-Ouen	...	Le père de François enfant (as Vincent Saint Ouen)
Tina Sportolaro	...	La mère de François enfant
François Hadji-Lazaro	...	Curé départ guerre
Érick Bernard	...	L'amant
Nicole Siffre	...	Pauline
Myriam Thomas	...	Mariette
Christophe Rea	...	Jacques
David Ordonez	...	Thomas
Jacques Raynaud	...	Joseph
Pétrus Léo Crombe	...	Gildas
Béatrice Abatut	...	Blandine
Jean-Claude De Brou	...	Ecorcheur
Stéphane Bédrossian	...	Ecorcheur
Christophe Poiron	...	Ecorcheur
Yves Frexinos	...	Ecorcheur
Raymond Pazzaglia	...	Ecorcheur
Marie Cosnay	...	Nicolette
Sylvie Beyssen	...	Prostituée
Anne Bolon	...	Prostituée
Frédérique Figuero	...	Prostituée
Agnès Hick	...	Prostituée

Directed by
Bertrand Tavernier

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Colo Tavernier		writer (as Colo Tavernier O'Hagan)

Produced by
Adolphe Viezzi	....	producer

Original Music by
Ron Carter

Cinematography by
Bruno de Keyzer

Film Editing by
Armand Psenny

Production Design by
Guy-Claude François

Costume Design by
Jacqueline Moreau

Makeup Department
Annick Legout	....	assistant makeup artist

Sound Department
Michel Barlier	....	sound mixer
Jean-Michel Chauvet	....	boom operator
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean-Yves Freess	....	grip
Georges Pierre	....	still photographer

Music Department
Ron Carter	....	musician: bass
William Flageollet	....	music mixer

Production Companies

• AMLF
• Cléa Productions
• Les Films de la Tour
• Little Bear
• Scena Film
• TF1 Films Production

Distributors

• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The (1988) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

Beatrice (USA)
Quarto comandamento (Italy)
The Passion of Beatrice (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

131 min | USA:130 min | West Germany:132 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Château de Puivert, Aude, France

Company:

AMLF

Soundtrack:

Pie Jesu

Arduous but unforgettable

I've never been able to shake this movie. Although I hated it while watching it, its authority convinced me utterly that its portrait of medieval castle life as lonely, dreary, and brutal (contradicting the swashbuckling fantasies in which many of us are apt to indulge) is the way it probably was. Indeed, the recollection of that awful, far-flung, yet confining world overrides and incapacitates every representation of the period I've seen since. It must be one of the most convincing views of a historical era ever put on film. The film itself is brutal; that was one reason I hated watching it; but in retrospect I believe there was no other way to tell the story fairly, and certainly it's the humanity of Beatrice, not the inhumanity of her surroundings, that the film leaves as its final impression. If this isn't a great film, it's a commanding and uncompromising one.