An Old Mistress

Aroview: Fervent, visually opulent costume drama finds feminist firebrand Catherine Breillat tempering her sexually explicit tendencies to present a no-less provocative exploration of pleasure, desire and gender politics within a torrid aristocratic affair conducted in the stuffy atmosphere of early-19th century Paris.

Enlivened by the devilishly hedonistic presence of Asia Argento and carried along by a witty, silver-tongued script, with the director's recurring thematic concerns streamlined into a more incisive synthesis of hidden agendas, generational limbo and conflicting ethics. Shouldn't disappoint fans of Breillat's earlier, more controversial pieces, but also recommended to those previously put off by all the base brouhaha.

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