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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
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Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
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74
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74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
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63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
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Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
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56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
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55
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54
Is Anybody There?
54
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54
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52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Duchess of Langeais, The
IFC Films
 |
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Jeanne Balibar,
and
Guillaume Depadieu
Antoinette is the Duchess of Langeais, a married coquette who frequents the most extravagant balls in 1820s Paris during the Restoration, when hypocrisy and vanity reign. From the moment of the handsome general Armand de Montriveau's first meeting with her, he realized it was true love. Flattered by his attentions, the alluring Antoinette orchestrates a calculating game of seduction, but she repeatedly refuses Montriveau. Despite his sincere romantic declarations, Montriveau's passion remains unfulfilled. When the humiliated Montriveau eventually seeks his revenge, Antoinette's love awakens. But it may well be too late for the star-crossed lovers. (IFC Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jacques Rivette
Christine Laurent
Pascal Bonitzer
Honoré de Balzac (novel "La duchesse de Langeais")
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jacques Rivette
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: February 22, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
137 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
France / Italy |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
French |
Alternative Title: Ne touchez pas la hache
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
The first masterpiece of 2008 -- at least by American release date standards -- the latest film from master French director Jacques Rivette is a masterful, multilayered, sometimes enigmatic work of dark irony, an assured tragicomedy of manners and more.
100
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Duchess of Langeais seems to me a nearly impeccable work of art -- beautiful, true, profound.
100
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Jacques Rivette has brought the Balzac short story to screen as a superb chamber drama. His is a graceful work of austerity and formality that perfectly captures the chaos of repressed emotions that see beneath the rigid conventions of aristocratic society.
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
The movie's satisfactions are subtle, but they run deep, and there are many.
88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Rivette's slow-moving but seamless study of the rituals of courtship has a disarming grace, even as its downcast hero, Depardieu's Gen. Armand de Montriveau, limps around stiffly.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A highbrow chick flick that made me feel older, in a good way.
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
Though not exactly a "comedy" of manners, since it's more melancholy than funny, The Duchess Of Langeais is very much concerned with how the rules of social etiquette interfere with raw human need.
83
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The Duchess of Langeais is a romantic dance of death.
80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
With its sophisticated psychology, its brilliant story structure and its riveting performances, The Duchess of Langeais feels very new, even if everything about it is old.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Balibar and Depardieu make a compelling duo who exude an animal magnetism that's undeniable.
75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
The performances reveal precisely what Rivette wants to reveal, which is to say, in conventional psychological terms, not a great deal.
70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Masterfully charted and adeptly played, but also rather minimalist.
70
The New Yorker
David Denby
The Duchess is enragingly elusive and possibly mad; the General is very direct and also possibly mad.
70
Variety
Russell Edwards
Rivette uses intertitles (including some direct quotes from Balzac) to move the plot along and underline the dry wit. Helming is both leisurely and exact, offering auds ample opportunities to intimately observe the selfishness and folly of two people who would rather fight than switch.
70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
Rivette has aged into one of cinema’s most ingenious minimalists. In The Duchess of Langeais he uses intertitles--bits of literary exposition--with cheeky understatement.
70
Village Voice
Nathan Lee
Rivette is teasing his way, thinking afresh, playing a game but tweaking its rules, telling a story, but only sort of--making, in short, not simply a movie, but that ineffable magic called cinema.
70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
The picture has an unsettling, haunting quality that I haven't been able to shake.
67
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
The performances are solid and subtle, with Depardieu growing nicely into the brooding, smarter-than-he-looks roles his father tackled for years.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
A typically hypnotic, slow-coiling drama from 80-year-old French filmmaker, Jacques Rivette.
63
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Rivette brings a refreshing realism to what could have been a stodgy costume drama, it's still pretty slow going.
60
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
If anything, as it lathers up into an abortive attempt at scarlet-woman branding and a goofy siege on the nunnery where a dazed and confused Antoinette has holed up, The Duchess of Langeais works best as the comic bondage fantasy implied in its deliciously sly French title: "Don't Touch the Axe."
50
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The film's a minuet fetishistically repeated until either the audience or the lovers go crazy. I'd say it was a tie.
38
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Jacques Rivette's film is full of painstaking historical detail, but the behavior of the two nonlovers is mired in inaction and emotionally incomprehensible.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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