Synopsis
Anne (Daphné Baiwir) reads her younger sister, Marie-Catherine (Lola Créton), the story of Bluebeard. In 17th-century France, another set of sisters — also named Anne and Marie-Catherine — are left impoverished by their father's death. Marie-Catherine dreams of marrying into money, and soon falls for wealthy divorcé Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas). Grateful for the chance at a life of comfort, Marie-Catherine marries Bluebeard — in spite of rumors that he has made a hobby of murdering his wives.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Dominique ThomasBarbe Bleue / Bluebeard
- Lola CrétonMarie-Catherine
- Daphné BaiwirAnne
- Marilou Lopes-BenitesCatherine
- Lola GiovannettiMarie-Anne
- Farida KhelfaLa mère supérieure
- Isabelle LapougeLa mère
- Suzanne FoulquierSoeur Barbe
- Laure LapeyreIda
- Adrien Ledoux
Recommendations
- 100
Time Out
The most impressive aspect of Breillat’s feature is that it agitates like the best fairy tales, seducing us with otherworldliness before sticking the knife in and permanently inscribing the moral. - 90
The New York Times
Ms. Breillat narrates the fairy tale three ways: in the period story, through the little girls and, finally, through the overall film. None are fully satisfying, but together they offer a sharp, knowing gloss on how our stories define who we were and who we become. - 83
The A.V. Club
As with Breillat’s 2007 period piece "The Last Mistress," Bluebeard is subdued and unadorned, almost plain. - 80
Boxoffice Magazine
Breillat directs with her characteristic flair for getting under the skin of her protagonists while taking a particular pleasure examining sisterly bonds and feminist concerns within the context of a fairy tale. - 80
Village Voice
Psychologically rich, unobtrusively minimalist, at once admirably straightforward and slyly comic, Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard is a lucid retelling and simultaneous explanation of Charles Perrault's nastiest, most un-Disneyfiable nursery story. - 80
NPR
Breillat plumbs the power of fairy tales to enchant, disturb, warn and teach. - 75
New York Post
Bluebeard revisits themes often found in Breillat's films -- sibling rivalry, pedophilia, gender conflict -- but it remains fresh and new. - 70
Variety
This offbeat but compelling take on the tale, arguably the first serial-killer yarn, emphasizes sisterly bonds but still gets to the original story's heart of mysterious darkness with impressive results.
