Details
Movie Description
This visually breathtaking film from New Wave director Eric Rohmer uses hand-painted sets that depict 18th-century Paris, the English lady's home, and the surrounding countryside with a vivid effect that looks like a realist oil painting brought to life. Set in the mid-1700s during the French Revolution, THE LADY AND THE DUKE tracks the profound friendship between Grace Elliot (Lucy Russell), an English woman who lives in Paris and insists on staying there throughout the war, and The Duke of Orleans (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), the cousin of Louis XVI and Grace's former lover. Russell (FOLLOWING) gives a superb performance as the headstrong, political, beautiful, and daring Grace Elliot, whose real-life memoirs inspired Rohmer to make the film. Dreyfus (DELICATESSEN) plays her perfect counterpart--powerful and unwavering, yet charming, caring, and honest. As each scene of the film magically bleeds into the next, the painterly backdrops make it difficult to discern 3-D objects such as chairs from the trompe l'oiel flat painted sets. Characters enter or exit with shocking life as the camera matches them to the color and texture of the painting. Majestic black horses that pull carriages over the "cobblestone" streets shimmer with velveteen realness. Meanwhile, tension brought on by the war adds strain to the friendship between the lady and the duke, and as the audience endures the fall of the Bastille, the September Massacres, and the finally, the king's execution, they are captivated, entertained, and historically nourished.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - French
Dolby Digital 2.0 - French
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection
Theatrical Release: MAY 10, 2002 (LA/NY)
Industry Reviews
"...The story line is complicated and full of intrigue....Russell is impressive in her first major film role..."
Hollywood Reporter - Judith Prescott (10/02/2001)
"...The sincerity of the enterprise of storytelling and the pairing-down to the essential concentrate our attention on the human complexities of a tragic tale that is well worth retelling..."
Sight and Sound - Philip Horne (02/01/2002)
"...Astonishingly and reassuringly a Rohmer film..."
New York Times - A. O. Scott (05/10/2002)
"...Never once, in fact, is Rohmer's treatment stiff or starchy, thanks in part to the ever-passionate Russell..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (05/10/2002)
"...This fascinating experiment plays as more of a poetic than a strict reality, creating an intriguing species of artifice that gives THE LADY AND THE DUKE something of a theatrical air..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (05/10/2002)
"...The technique is impressive..."
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (06/07/2002)
"...Elegant....[Rohmer] uses intriguing digital backdrops..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (06/30/2002)
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