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| | Label: Fox
Salesrank: 262824
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| Our Price: $18.99 |
| Used Price: $21.99 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Featurette, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Nathalie is the name a Parisian prostitute assumes for a special mission or "private investigation." She is engaged for this unusual, and secretive task by a professional, upper middle class wife who fears her husband is unfaithful to her. Nathalie has to seduce the clueless husband and regularly report all details of her relationship with him, including his most intimate sexual preferences in bed. Nathalie is stunning, charming and cunning. Can Nathalie and her reports to the mistrustful wife be trusted? Is the middle aged husband indeed unfaithful?
SCREENED/AWARDED AT: European Film Awards, Toronto International Film Festival,
Nathalie... Reviews:
Talk Dirty To Me 
2009-11-21 - The elegant Catherine (Fanny Ardant) discovers her husband, Gerard Depardieu is doing what men do...having a "banal" affair. When Catherine asks her husband for details, her husband can't or won't provide them. Catherine hires a prostitute, the gorgeous Emmanuelle Beart, to seduce her husband and reveal her husband's erotic proclivities. Nathalie's ensuing tales of lust and passion propagate an understated sexual tension between her and Catherine that will make any viewer weak in the knees.
A surprisingly good movie. I didn't think there could be a more unlikely romance, but by the end of this film I was begging for Catherine and Nathalie to "just kiss already". What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic. The erotic talk, the slow seduction, two gorgeous and intelligent women, scotch and cigarettes, broken hearts and understated lust, Paris, feminine vulnerability and strength...probably the most sexy movie I've seen. Recommended.
coulda been a contender ... 
2009-08-20 - I figured out pretty quickly (as did most people, I imagine) that the hooker (Beart) hired by the wife (Ardan) to service her husband (Depardieu) was describing sexual encounters that never occurred. The movie owns up to this fact rather late in the story and makes that a key plot point, which fell flat on me because it told me what I already knew.
Far better for the movie to have gone boldly where Maupassant took the story and show a love affair developing between Beart and Ardan, I mean way beyond the sly hints we get, and then have the husband find out and show how he reacts to the event. Does he fight to get his wife back? Does he do something violent? Does he throw in the towel and move on with his life? Does he throw himself into the river (as in M's story)? All these are far more interesting options than the one chosen. If M could write a love story between two beautiful women in mid-19th century, I should think someone could do that today. Okay, maybe not as well because M was a master story teller and his command of French prose was way beyond what a screenwriter could do. Still, opportunity missed.
By the way, the sleazy DVD cover is misleading. Beart handles her portrayal of a "belle de jour" with restraint. She doesn't do a strip tease in the movie.
Nathalie - Cerebral French Film About Sex, Love And The Human Heart 
2009-01-22 - Nathalie is an excellent film with subtle and smart writing and beautiful camera work. Fanny Ardant displays subtle sophistication in the lead role as Catherine. Her husband Bernard, played by Gerard Depardieu, has grown distant and unfaithful. Her insecurity prompts her to commission Marlene, played by Emmanuelle Béart, to seduce him. She gives her the pseudonym of "Nathalie" and they slowly start to peel back the layers of their relationships and their own psyches.
The resulting story is a closely woven series of rendezvous where each of the characters plays off of the emotions of their counterparts. For the most part, our triangle is never all together save for a few brief moments. Instead, the dynamic of this film is the one-on-one interactions that they share that reveal how their feelings for one another allow them to be manipulated and hurt. It's also an exploration of what makes them unwilling to simply let go of their damaging relationships.
Watching this film brings to mind the parallels between the love triangle of "Nathalie" and the love rectangle of Closer. Whereas the storyline in "Closer" is more driven by a combination of plot elements and character pathos, "Nathalie" is almost entirely focused on the inner torment and psychological games played by and on the central characters.
This is a very cerebral and theatrical film. While "Closer" was also written for the stage prior to being made into a film, it has a more traditional plot. Here, the message is much more complicated and the plot is circuitous. That does not takes nothing away from the strong character studies that we have in the film. But the abrupt and questionable conclusion slightly detracts from the story's effectiveness. I would really love to know how many alternate endings were considered by the film makers before they settled on this one.
From a technical standpoint, this film is also worthy of study, with each scene expertly lit and filmed. Beart in particular is framed beautifully, and I believe symbolically, in her scenes. Each still is like a painting. This is an achievement that the director of photography should be applauded for.
If you enjoy thoughtful psychological character studies, this film is absolutely worth buying and watching again and again. Beart, Depardieu and Ardant hold an actor's clinic for us to study and enjoy. The slow and deliberate plot and somewhat soft conclusion will not satisfy those looking for a more traditional story. But the creativity and depth of these character is sure to appeal to lovers of acting and French cinema.
Enjoy.
A French film in the tradition of Belle de Jour and Romance.
2007-10-13 - Anne Fontaine's Nathalie is a French infidelity story starring Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant (8 Women, Callas Forever) as a Parisian married couple, Bernard and Catherine. Catherine (a gynecologist who knows little about sex) discovers that Bernard is having an affair, which is not so unusual for a French film where an affair such as Bernard's is considered to be little more than a "nuisance." "It doesn't count," Bernard says, shrugging it off; "It's too banal to talk about." What sets Nathalie apart from other such films is Catherine's response to her discovery. After a couple of shots of whiskey, she hires Marlène (Emmanuelle Béart8 Women, Un Coeur en Hiver), the prettiest prostitute she can find, to act as "Nathalie" to seduce her husband, and then report back with all the lurid details. Rather than throwing him out, or ignoring his infidelity, Catherine uses "Nathalie" to learn more about her husband's sexual desires. He "jumped on me like he hadn't done it in years," Marlène at first reports to Catherine. Eventually, Marlène's reports to Catherine grow wilder and wilder, and through their conversations about the hard truths of human sexuality, the two become friends (with a lesbian subtext). Most of the film's action occurs in these conversations. Rather than merely thinking she knows everything about sexuality, Catherine is determined to really know what's going on, making this an interesting sexual-coming-of-age film in the same tradition as Belle de Jour and Romance. Stunning Ardant and extraordinarily beautiful Béart bring great performances to the film, which includes Leonard Cohen in the soundtrack. Except for the predictable ending, this is a nearly perfect French film.
G. Merritt
French style chick flick with some depth and surprises
2007-06-16 - Fanny Ardant plays Catherine, a gynecologist of a certain age, who discovers that her husband Benard (Gerard Depardieu) is cheating on her. She wonders if this is a onetime thing or something he does regularly. So she hires a prostitute (Emmanuelle Beart as Marlene/Nathalie) to test him. When the test turns up positive, Catherine wants to hear the intimate details which Marlene agreeably supplies.
The details of exactly what they do would seem a bit hard to take for the spouse who is being cheated on, and Catherine does find some of the descriptions unsavory. However she insists on hearing them. The viewer begins to wonder if Catherine is not being sexually aroused by these details (which is what Marlene thinks) or is of a masochistic frame of mind.
As Catherine and Marlene draw closer together the viewer now begins to wonder if Catherine herself would like to have a sexual relationship with Marlene. Since a lot of the tension in the movie relies on just what it is that Catherine wants, I won't reveal the answer. She claims to love her husband but as the details get seamier and seamier she decides she no longer knows whether she loves him or not.
How this will resolve itself is what kept me watching. The ending is a bit of a surprise. See if you can guess it.
Ardant is excellent, although her long suffering face may become a bit tedious for some. Beart is very good as a skillful and opportunistic prostitute, almost too good perhaps because I found her a bit creepy. She was 40-years-old when this was released and there is nary a line on her face. Ardant's look was natural and, for me anyway, more agreeable. Both women are of course two of the most celebrated stars of the French cinema as is Depardieu, whose part is rather modest. Anne Fontaine's direction is clear and focused.
While not your typical "chick flick"--certainly it is not like American chick flick faire--this is nonetheless very much a woman's point of view movie with the kind of agreeable ending that will please most viewers regardless of sex.
Best line and typical of the kind of psychology presented is this from Catherine as she is talking to Marlene: "Jealousy. For men it's a reflex."
See this for Fanny Ardant who has that Catherine Deneuve quality of growing more beautiful as she gets older, a talented actress who always carries herself well.
