L'anglaise et le duc (2001)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writers:

Grace Elliott (memoir "Ma vie sous la révolution")
Eric Rohmer (adaptation)

Release Date:

7 September 2001 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

During the French Revolution, a Scottish aristocrat and her former lover, the Duke of Orleans, find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

Plot Keywords:

Duke | French Revolution | Aristocrat | Old Flame | Period Drama

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Jean-Claude Dreyfus	...	Le duc d'Orléans
Lucy Russell	...	Grace Elliott
Alain Libolt	...	Duc de Biron
Charlotte Véry	...	Pulcherie the Cook
Rosette	...	Fanchette
Léonard Cobiant	...	Champcenetz
François Marthouret	...	Dumouriez
Caroline Morin	...	Nanon
Héléna Dubiel	...	Madame Meyler
Laurent Le Doyen	...	Section Miromesnil: Officer
Georges Benoît	...	Section Miromesnil: President
Serge Wolfsperger	...	Section Miromesnil: Aide
Daniel Tarrare	...	Justin the Doorman
Marie Rivière	...	Madame Laurent
Michel Demierre	...	Chabot

Also Known As:

The Lady and the Duke (Australia) (USA)
L'anglaise & le duc (France) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images.

Runtime:

129 min | USA:125 min (New York Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:T | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Brazil:14 | France:U | Germany:6 | Peru:14 | Spain:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Company:

Pathé Image Production

Trivia:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2001 (#02)

Movie Connections:

References The Far Country (1954)

Soundtrack:

La Carmagnole

A Royalist view of the revolution.

This is quite an amazing film to watch. Using digital technology, the director, Rohmer, has literally encrusted his living actors into painted backdrops. Most of the time this works brilliantly, especially at the start where the film is like a pop up story book come to life. It is less successful in a few scenes, where it limits camera angles (they had not painted the side of some of the buildings for example) but it is a very interesting way to film a historical film which is as much about our own misconceptions and limited views of history as History itself. It is narrated using the memoirs of the Duc d'Orleans' ex- mistress, Grace Elliott. So, an event usually claimed as one of their own by Marxist historians, especially in France, is here told from the point of view of a female aristocratic foreigner. Inevitably a different point of view emerges -there can be no objective representation. The use of the memoirs device does give the film a rather episodic quality. Personally, I found the story line around the King's death the most interesting. A staunch Royalist she is shocked when the Duc votes for the King's death (a basic knowledge of the French Revolution is probably helpful to follow the dialogue between Grace and the Duc here. He was Louis's cousin and had himself elected to the Assembly, where he promptly changed his name to Philip Equality). The filming of Louis's death is masterly. Grace and her maidservant are in Meudon, out of Paris, watching from a hill with a telescope. We do not see the execution, we only hear the maid's commentary, like Grace. The most dramatic event of the Revolution happens off screen. Grace cannot bear to watch her king be killed. Her view is that of an aristocrat. Any justification of Louis's death is literally beyond her vision. This is powerful, keenly intelligent film making. The love story between the duc and Grace is insinuated, never told, and is powerfully moving (tho the Duc does seem a bit of a pompous fool at times; what does she see in him? No accounting for taste). The undercurrents of madness (simply existing being enough to be a suspect) that sweep individuals along in a time such as the Revolution are illustrated as Grace's life is turned upside down, her house is searched daily, yet she still orders her servants to cook her food and is incapable of dressing herself! If you have any interest at all in a subtle, well told film, making clever use of new technology to tell an old tale, or the representation of a pivotal moment in Europe's history narrated by an aristocratic foreign woman, its ultimate outsider, then this is well worth your time. It is a little slow in places but your patience is amply rewarded.