La demoiselle d'honneur (2004)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

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 )

Mediocrity in the name of art is no virtue

Sometimes the best way to understand a film is to listen to the director's own words. With "La demoiselle d'honneur," even that may not aid one's comprehension. For me, this film appears to be too loosely constructed to provide much more than very casually related scenes which appear to go nowhere. For example, director Clausd Charbrol, in a written interview in the special effects section of the DVD, says: " In my films the plot is not terribly significant. I try to get it out of the way in the first reel." One is left wondering why there is a wedding anyway? Why is there a bridesmaid? Why so much emphasis on the bride's mother doing hairdressing in her kitchen? Charbrol wants the audience to identify with Beniot, but identify with what? Charbol claims Phillipe's character is 80% sex and 20% passion. From this, the director expects the audience (in his words)to be "strong enough or crazy enough to reject their whole mental makeup." Phillipe drives a new car in the film apparently because the auto agency delivered it to the set by mistake, so his boss Nadeau lets him drive it for six months until his own driver's license is reinstated, but he admonishes Phillipe to "bring it back in one piece." The beach scene is an clearly stated as being an illusion to FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. There is also a clear illusion to PSYCHO. Of course, the absence of plot as the film progresses seems to allow the story to go out of control. Chabrol explains: "You have to ask funny questions at times." The only funny question I can think of is "Why would anyone want to see this film?" I find no merit for recommendation.