La demoiselle d'honneur (2004)

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Claude Chabrol (writer)
Pierre Leccia (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

17 November 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A hard-working young man meets and falls in love with his sister's bridesmaid. He soon finds out how disturbed she really is.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Bridesmaid | Murder | Cell Phone | Basement

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Le clochard
Suzanne Flon	...	Madame Crespin
Eric Seigne	...	Jacky
Pierre-François Dumeniaud	...	Nadeau
Philippe Duclos	...	Capitaine Dutreix
Thomas Chabrol	...	Lieutenant José Laval
Isolde Barth	...	Rita (as Isild Barth)
Mazen Kiwan	...	Pablo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chantal Banlier	...	La caissière épicerie
Jacqueline Cassard	...	Madame Bertillon
Brigitte Chamarande	...	Madame Soupin
Emmanuel Faure
Pascal Franks
Pierre Galliard
Florent Gibassier	...	Le serveur de pizza
Vincent Guillerminet
Joëlle Legua
Isabelle Leprince	...	Madame Pélissier
Isabelle Mamère	...	Nathalie Dumont
Jean-Pierre Niobe		(as Jean-Pierre Niobé)
Cécile Peroua
Taïeb		(as Taieb)
Michel Vivier

Directed by
Claude Chabrol

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Claude Chabrol		writer
Pierre Leccia		writer
Ruth Rendell		novel

Produced by
Françoise Galfré	....	executive producer
Patrick Godeau	....	producer
Alfred Hürmer	....	co-producer
Antonio Passalia	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Matthieu Chabrol

Cinematography by
Eduardo Serra

Film Editing by
Monique Fardoulis

Production Design by
Françoise Benoît-Fresco

Costume Design by
Sandrine Bernard
Mic Cheminal

Makeup Department
Françoise Andrejka	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Laura Einmahl	....	unit manager
Michel Jullien	....	production manager
Anne Lessnick	....	production manager
Thierry Magniez	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vincent Guillerminet	....	second assistant director
Cécile Maistre	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Yvonnick Bousso	....	painter
Aleth Galen	....	sculptor
Patrick Loret	....	painter
Jérôme Perrin	....	key construction
Amanda Ponsa	....	painter
Evariste Richer	....	painter

Sound Department
Vincent Cosson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michel Filippi	....	adr supervisor
Thierry Lebon	....	sound re-recording mixer
Pierre Lenoir	....	sound
Jean-Alexandre Villemer	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Mathieu Caudroy	....	Steadicam operator
Delphine Desbruères	....	second assistant camera
Sascha Govic	....	grip
David Grinberg	....	assistant camera
Michel Thiriet	....	camera operator
Jakob von Lenthe	....	video operator

Editorial Department
Stanislas Moreau	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Laurent Petitgirard	....	musical director

Other crew
Vincent Bell	....	scout
Aurore Chabrol	....	script supervisor
Stéphanie Fouet	....	administrator
Aleth Galen	....	sculptress
Caspar Heider	....	production coordinator
Eva Simonet	....	press attache
Carolin von Fritsch	....	set manager: Munich

Production Companies

• Alicéléo
• Canal Diffusion (co-production)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• Integral Film (co-production)
• Cofimage 15 (participation)
• Conseil Régional des Pays de la Loire (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (participation)
• Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) (participation)
• Titania Produzioni (participation)
• Janus International (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• BIM Distribuzione (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Bac Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• First Run Features (2006) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)

Special Effects

• L'Etude et la Supervision des Trucages (L'E.S.T.) (opening titles)

Other Companies

• FilmFernsehFonds Bayern  funding
• Les Traiteurs du Vern  catering

Also Known As:

Die Brautjungfer (Germany)
La damigella d'onore (Italy)
The Bridesmaid (International: English title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

France | Germany | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Brazil:16 | France:U | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Alicéléo

Trivia:

There are four members of the Chabrol family in the crew : Claude's two sons ( actor Thomas and composer Matthew ), his wife ( scipt supervisor Aurore ) and his stepdaughter ' first assistant Cécile Maistre )

Four Weird Things to Prove Your Love

In Lille, the hairdresser Christine (Aurore Clément) has raised her son and two daughters alone. Philippe Tardieu (Benoît Magimel), who works in a renovation company; Sophie Tardieu (Solène Bouton), who is going to marry Jacky (Eric Seigne) in a couple of days; and Patricia Tardieu (Anna Mihalcea),who seems to be using drugs, live with their mother in a middle-class house where Christine works. Now, while a teenager is vanished in the city, Christine invites her son and daughters to meet her boyfriend, the wealthy Gérard Courtois (Bernard Le Coq) that has just divorced and is selling his house. She gives her garden stone head of the goddess of flowers Flora that Philippe adores to Gérard that tells her that he has a business travel to Italy on the next day, but he disappears from Christine's life. In Sophie's wedding, Philippe meets her sexy bridesmaid and Jacky's cousin Stéphanie "Senta" Bellange (Laura Smet) and they have one night stand. Despite the odd behavior of the unstable and apparently imaginative Senta, Philippe immediately falls in love for her and suggests four weird things to prove their love: planting a tree; writing a poem; having homosexual intercourse; and killing a person. When a homeless beggar is found murdered in the harbor, Philippe decides to fantasize that he had murdered the man to prove his love to Senta. On the next morning, when he wakes-up, Senta tells that she had murdered Gérard to please Philippe and describes her crime in details. Philippe decides to visit Gérard to find the truth about Senta.

"La Demoiselle d'Honneur" is an engaging thriller of Claude Chabrol that slightly recalled me Alfred Hitchcock style in "Strangers on a Train". The story has many subplots to divert the viewer and the twists are excellent. This is the first movie that I have seen of the sexy and gorgeous Laura Smet and I loved her performance, in a totally different type of psychopath. Like in other films of this director, the ending is open to interpretation and I believe that Philippe has indeed called the police, but will try to help Senta during her imprisonment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Dama de Honra" ("The Bridesmaid")