Review: Nathalie (Fontaine, 2003)
April 4th 2010 04:27
Nathalie… (Fontaine, 2003)
(Written April 3, 2010)
Nathalie…, directed by Anne Fontaine, is a mature psychological character study about a middle-aged wife named Catherine (Fanny Ardant) who discovers her husband (Gerald Depardieu) is cheating on her. One normally thinks the structure of these types of films in which someone in the relationship is unfaithful would go like this: wife suspects, wife attempts to find out, events ensue. In Nathalie…, the wife and the audience know from the start. She catches her husband, Bernard, by listening to a phone message that leaves nothing to the imagination. “We had good sex’ the girl says. Bernard doesn’t deny that he’s been unfaithful and more than once.
Now that the wife has this information early in the first act the plot veers away from the stereotypical ‘when she will find out?’ to ‘what will she do with this confirmed knowledge?’ Nathalie… doesn’t play into stereotypes or structure but instead revolutionizes them.
Catherine hires a prostitute, Marlene (Emmanuelle Beart) to seduce her husband Bernard and report back to her. She tells Marlene they can’t use her real name and suggests Nathalie. It’s Catherine’s actions and her motives that drive this film. Why is she doing this? She already knows he cheats. Is it to feel some sexual excitement? Is it to be able to have this power over her husband without his knowledge? Catherine is completely in control of the situation until she’s told by Nathalie that they slept together. An event we never see. This throws Catherine for a loop and we are forced to again question what she’s trying to gain by her private investigation.
Nathalie and Catherine continue to meet ... Nathalie repeatedly details her intimate relations with Bernard. When Bernard actually does want Catherine, she turns him down. As the film unfolds, the audience is forced to question Nathalie’s honesty and Catherine’s true desires.
Emmanuelle Beart is perhaps the most gorgeous actress in modern cinema. In Nathalie…, she gives one of the sexiest performances in cinematic history and yet this is merely due to her dialogue, the throaty whisper of her words; she does not have a sex scene.
Fanny Ardant is wonderful as Catherine, subtly portraying pain, indifference, and uncertain sexual desires. Sadly, Depardieu is not given much to work with and aside from a few key bits of dialogue in the film’s first 10 minutes or so he takes a backseat in the film. The score to Nathalie... is sparse and not over-indulgent and the film contains a great conversation of Joy Division and usage of their best song, Atmosphere.
Nathalie... was recently remade into an American film entitled, Chloe, which has received a luke-warm reception by critics. It appears the American remake goes too far in its venture into psycho-sexual thriller territory, and a common complainant is that it takes itslf too seriously. It’s the common problem with American scripts for films in this genre; they never seem to realize that high drama lends to an uneven film.
The brilliance with French psychological dramas/thrillers is they know how far to go and if they do cross the line into corniness, it’s a conscious action on the part of the filmmaker. We Americans never seem to know when enough is enough. The casting of Liam Neeson as Depardieu’s American counterpart makes perfect sense; there’s one scene in a hotel bar in which Depardieu actually looks just like Neeson. However, it would be surprising if Neeson’s role was not expanded simply due to his star power. Amanda Seyfried in the lead role of the remake is interesting since her looks do not hold a candle to the intense beauty of Beart.
Chloe is lauded for its same-sex relationship between the main female characters, which many feel is just titillation for a young American male audience. The sexual tension between Catherine and Nathalie in Nathalie… is like a live current, but it never comes to fruition on screen; it is, however, implied. According to the director of Nathalie…, both actresses objected to playing it that way. This is hard to believe since Beart has had no problem with same-sex scenes in prior films.
Nathalie… is meticulous in its choices. Take the scene in which Catherine and Nathalie sit in Catherine’s mom’s living room and listen to her sing at the piano. It would be astonishing if this scene were transferred over into the American version; its a prime example at how Nathalie… avoids the relentlessness that usually occur in the remakes of foreign films.
The “twist” in Nathalie… is hardly a twist. It’s blatantly obvious and even alluded to in this review, in a section that was written before said twist had been revealed. One must wonder whether notion of a twist within the film was projected by the filmmaker or perpetuated by studio and critics. The American remake apparently (and unsurprisingly) contains numerous twists. The ending to Nathalie… is rather anti-climatic and even anger-inducing but overall, this is an enjoyable and surprisingly subtle psycho-sexual drama (it is not a thriller; the remake is being lauded as such) with some strong performances.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I thought this one was a little clumsy in its second half. Still an intriguing film, but it shows its hand very early and gets to obsessed with its plot not characters.
Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
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Comment by Denise Murphy
So this film is about adult relationships - about power, deceit, control, desire, passion and emotional starvation in the context of a gluttony of sex.
Clearly the most interesting character is Nathalie /Marlene yearning for emotional nourishment.
Nathalie eeds to be seen more than once, there is so much to understand and enjoy in it.
Comment by Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth