Storyline

At 30, boyish penniless aristocrat Ryno de Marigny has separated from Villini, a passionate Spaniard and his mistress of 10 years. He's now in love with Hermangarde, a young, wealthy, and titled virgin. Days before the wedding, the bride's grandmother sits Ryno down and insists on knowing if his affair is over. He relates a story of passion, which we see in flashbacks, swearing he loves only Hermangarde. After the wedding, the couple moves to a castle by the sea. And Villini? Can passion survive disgust and self-loathing?—

Plot Keywords

young man, fiancée, courtesan, grandmother, aristocrat, mistress, hedonistic, shocking, witty, sad, paris, desert, church, spain, bedroom, commitment, marriage, love triangle, obsession, sex, class distinctions, forbidden love, rivalry, temptation, transformation, 19th century

Short Review

The director Catherine Breillat's period adaptation of an 1851 novel by Barbey d'Aurevilly delivers sex and pain with style and conviction that render her familiar themes new again.

Trailer

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