The Duchess of Langeais

The Duchess of Langeais
Film poster
Directed by	Jacques Rivette
Screenplay by	Pascal Bonitzer Christine Laurent Jacques Rivette
Based on	La Duchesse de Langeais by Honoré de Balzac
Produced by	Roberto Cicutto Martine Marignac Luigi Musini Ermanno Olmi Maurice Tinchant
Starring	Jeanne Balibar Guillaume Depardieu
Cinematography	William Lubtchansky
Edited by	Nicole Lubtchansky
Music by	Pierre Allio
Production companies	Pierre Grise Productions Cinemaundici Arte France Cinéma
Distributed by	Les Films du Losange
Release dates	15 February 2007 (2007-02-15) (Berlinale) 28 March 2007 (2007-03-28) (France)
Running time	137 minutes
Countries	France Italy
Language	French
Budget	€3.9 million^[1]
Box office	$616,441^[1]

The Duchess of Langeais is a 2007 French-Italian period drama film directed by Jacques Rivette. Its original French title is Ne touchez pas la hache ("Don't touch the axe"). It is based on the 1834 novel of the same name by Honoré de Balzac. The film stars Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu as lovers in the 1820s,^[2] who are involved in a tormented and frustrating relationship.

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Plot

Armand de Montriveau, a general under Napoleon but of no account under the Restoration régime, has traced Antoinette de Langeais, the woman he loves, to a convent in Majorca where she has hidden herself as a nun. He asks for an interview, which is granted when Antoinette claims he is her brother. When they meet, she shrieks that he is her lover and he is hustled out.

The scene shifts back to their first meeting at a party in Paris, where she is entranced by his tales of exploits in Egypt. She encourages him to visit the town house where she lives alone, her husband being elsewhere. She even receives him in her nightdress, claiming to be ill. For she is a born coquette, delighting in her power over Armand yet always denying any bodily intimacy. As well as reminding him she is married, she also plays the religion card by reminding him that adultery would be a sin. In time he starts playing her game in return, becoming capricious and moody. With masked friends, he even abducts her and threatens to torture her, but when she seems about to give in he lets her go. He stops answering her letters, and even stops opening them. In despair, she gives him an ultimatum: to meet her or never see her again. He does not keep the rendezvous and she disappears from Paris.

The scene shifts forward to Armand and his friends who, after the rebuff in the convent, decide to storm the place in the middle of the night and abduct Antoinette. Reaching her room, they find her laid out dead.

Cast

Jeanne Balibar as Antoinette de Langeais
Guillaume Depardieu as Armand de Montriveau
Michel Piccoli as Vidame de Pamiers
Bulle Ogier as Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry
Anne Cantineau as Clara de Sérizy
Marc Barbé as Marquis de Ronquerolles
Thomas Durand as Henri de Marsay
Mathias Jung as Julien
Julie Judd as Lisette
Nicolas Bouchaud as Maxime de Trailles
Beppe Chierici as Alcalde
Victoria Zinny as Mother Superior
Barbet Schroeder as The Duke of Grandlieu

Reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 70%, based on 66 reviews, with an average score of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "At times plodding and dialogue heavy, The Duchess of Langeais is nevertheless an intriguing and rewarding dissection of class and gender relations."^[3] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 74, based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[4]