For those who think French is the language of amour, Nathalie... may be the perfect film. Naughty but very talky, it's the story of a married woman, Catherine (Fanny Ardant), who hires streetwalker Marlene (Emmanuelle Béart) to seduce her philandering husband, Bernard (Gérard Depardieu). Curiously, Catherine isn't interested in revenge, but in finding out what her hubby is like when he has a different woman between the sheets. As the flames of desire turn to ash and cinders, it's obvious someone will be playing the crying game. The question is, who?
Seducing Bernard with the ease of a professional sex worker, 'Nathalie' reports back to Catherine each time, telling her - in graphic detail - how and where they made love, what it felt like, how much she enjoyed it. As the cast-aside wife lives (and loves) vicariously through Nathalie, she rediscovers her husband and reawakens her desire for him.
"A RATHER NAUGHTY SLICE OF EROTICA"
A steamy story of sex and infidelity among the French middle classes, director Anne Fontaine's film relies on a twist that is obvious right from the very start. Yet as a rather naughty slice of erotica it works brilliantly, with Ardant and Béart making a fascinating partnership. Enticed by the glitzy but grubby world of the local brothel, Catherine takes a walk on the wild side and is seduced by this intelligent, independent prostitute just as much as her husband is.
Tackling voyeurism and desire from a woman's viewpoint, Nathalie... plays around the edges of sexual explicitness by describing rather than showing. Juxtaposing the magnetic, slightly faded magnificence of Ardant next to the captivating ugly-beauty of Béart - an actress who looks like a mud turtle crossed with Michelle Pfeiffer - director and co-writer Anne Fontaine has produced a sultry film more interested in the foreplay than its resolutely underwhelming climax.
In French with English subtitles.
Nathalie... (2004)
