The Decade List: Ne touchez pas la hache (2007)

Ne touchez pas la hache [The Duchess of Langeais] – dir. Jacques Rivette

Set in the early 19th century, The Duchess of Langeais begins with the final hours of a man’s widespread quest. Bowlegged French general Armand de Montriveau (the late Guillaume Depardieu, in probably his finest performance) finds his estranged lover Antoinette (Jeanne Balibar), or best known as the Duchess of Langeais, sequestered in a Spanish convent, in an attempt to escape the treacherousness of their doomed affair. From Armand's rediscovery of Antoinette, the film moves back in time to their first meeting as courageous soldier and married duchess at a lavish ball. Following that initial meeting, their relationship unfolds in games of humorless wit and searing manipulation with Jacques Rivette, working from a novel by Honoré de Balzac, never shadowing the lovers' selfishness and despicability.

The Duchess of Langeais, or Don’t Touch the Axe as it’s properly translated, is what I often refer to as the anti-period film. Though, in certain people’s minds, the “period film” (or “costume drama”) exists as a legitimate genre of film, it isn’t. While it’s merely a superficial association, it’s hard to deny that within that set there are films that follow an unwritten set of stylistic and narrative rules (most of which appeal greatly to the voting members of the Academy). The Duchess of Langeais is not one of those films, nor should anyone who recognizes Jacques Rivette’s name suspect that it might be. Instead, The Duchess of Langeais is a rigid, brilliant and trying piece of cinema, something of a “breeze” at 140 minutes (compared to most of the director’s work, excluding his latest 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup, which is his first to clock in at under two hours). It’s difficult to call Rivette a director who puts every minute of his films to the best use, but I’d never call some of his more laboring moments “filler.” He’s a director that understands the rewards of time and the sort of magic that can only occur after the viewer has fully dedicated himself or herself to the film. For the dedicated viewer, The Duchess of Langeais reaps that sort of reward handsomely.

With: Guillaume Depardieu, Jeanne Balibar, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Anne Cantineau, Marc Barbé, Barbet Schroeder
Screenplay: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette, based on the novel La duchesse de Langeais by Honoré de Balzac
Cinematography: William Lubtchansky
Music: Pierre Allio
Country of Origin: France/Italy
US Distributor: IFC Films

Premiere: 15 February 2007 (Berlin International Film Festival)
US Premiere: October 2007 (Chicago International Film Festival)

César Nominees 2009

The nominees for this year's Césars, better known as the French equivalent to the Academy Awards, were announced over a week ago, and for some reason I'm only just now getting a chance to go over them. A French copaine of mine tells me that, similar to several of my favorite Gallic films (Betty Blue, anything by Assayas), the French don't seem to care much for Laurent Cantet's The Class, even though it won the Palme d'Or, was France's official submission for the Oscars and is apparently nominated in several categories at the Césars. Obviously, I haven't seen most of the year's nominees, but I think it's a bit criminal to have ignored both Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos for A Christmas Tale in favor of Jean-Paul Roussillon and Anne Cosigny. I'd put my money on Guillaume Depardieu for best actor, à la Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. You can see the full awards via the Alternative Film Guide, and the ceremony will be held on 27 February. The nominees are as follows:

Meilleur film français [Best French Film]

Entre les murs [The Class] - dir. Laurent Cantet
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime [I've Loved You So Long] - dir. Philippe Claudel
Mesrine (Mesrine: L'instinct de mort; Mesrine: L'ennemi public n° 1) - dir. Jean-François Richet
Paris - dir. Cédric Klapisch
Le premier jour du reste de ta vie [The First Day of the Rest of Your Life] - dir. Rémi Bezançon
Séraphine - dir. Martin Provost
Un conte de Noël [A Christmas Tale] - dir. Arnaud Desplechin

Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]

Rémi Bezançon - Mesrine
Laurent Cantet - Entre les murs
Arnaud Desplechin - Un conte de Noël
Martin Provost - Séraphine
Jean-François Richet - Mesrine

Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]

Vincent Cassel - Mesrine
François-Xavier Demaison - Coluche, l'histoire d'un mec
Guillaume Depardieu - Versailles
Albert Dupontel - Deux jours à tuer
Jacques Gamblin - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

Meilleure actrice [Best Actress]

Catherine Frot - Le crime est notre affaire
Yolande Moreau - Séraphine
Kristin Scott Thomas - Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Tilda Swinton - Julia
Sylvia Testud - Sagan

Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Supporting Actor]

Benjamin Biolay - Stella
Claude Rich - Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera
Jean-Paul Roussillon - Un conte de Noël
Pierre Vaneck - Deux jours à tuer
Roschdy Zem - La fille de Monaco

Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle [Supporting Actress]

Jeanne Balibar - Sagan
Anne Consigny - Un conte de Noël
Edith Scob - L'heure d'été
Karin Viard - Paris
Elsa Zylberstein - Il y a longtemps que je t'aime

Meilleur premier film [Best First Film]

Home - dir. Ursula Meier
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime - dir. Philippe Claudel
Mascarades - dir. Lyes Salem
Pour elle - dir. Fred Cavayé
Versailles - dir. Pierre Schoeller

Meilleur scénario original [Original Screenplay]

Séraphine - Marc Abdelnour, Martin Provost
Le premier jour du reste de ta vie - Rémi Bezançon
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis [Welcome to the Sticks] - Dany Boon, Alexandre Charlot, Franck Magnier
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime - Philippe Claudel
Un conte de Noël - Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu

Meilleur scénario adaptation [Adapted Screenplay]

Deux jours à tuer - Eric Assous, Jérôme Beaujour, Jean Becker, François d'Épenoux
Le crime est notre affaire - François Caviglioli, Pascal Thomas
Entre les murs - François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Mesrine - Abdel Raouf Dafri, Jean-François Richet
La belle personne - Christophe Honoré, Gilles Taurand

Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]

Séraphine - Laurent Brunet
Mesrine - Robert Gantz
Un conte de Noël - Eric Gautier
Home - Agnès Godard
Faubourg 36 [Paris 36] - Tom Stern

Meilleur film étranger [Best Foreign Film]

Eldorado - dir. Bouli Lanners - Belgium
Gomorra [Gomorrah] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy
Into the Wild - dir. Sean Penn - USA
Le silence de Lorna [Lorna's Silence] - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne - Belgium
There Will Be Blood - dir. Paul Thomas Anderson - USA
Two Lovers - dir. James Gray - USA
Valse avec Bashir [Waltz with Bashir] - dir. Ari Folman - Israel

Meilleur film documentaire [Best Documentary]

Elle s'appelle Sabine [Her Name Is Sabine] - dir. Sandrine Bonnaire
J'irai dormir à Hollywood [Hollywood, I'll Sleep over Tonight] - dir. Antoine de Maximy
Les plages d'Agnès [The Beaches of Agnès] - dir. Agnès Varda
Tabarly - dir. Pierre Marcel
La vie moderne [Modern Life] - dir. Raymond Depardon

Meilleur espoir masculin [Best Male Newcomer]

Ralph Amoussou - Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera
Laurent Capelluto - Un conte de Noël
Marc-André Grondin - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet - La belle personne
Pio Marmai - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

Meilleure espoir féminin [Best Female Newcomer]

Marilou Berry - Vilaine
Louise Bourgoin - La fille de Monaco
Anaïs Demoustier - Les grandes personnes
Déborah François - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie
Léa Seydoux - La belle personne

Meilleur court métrage [Best Short Film]

Les miettes - dir. Pierre Pinaud
Les paradis perdus - dir. Hélier Cisterne
Skhizein - dir. Jérémy Clapin
Taxi Wala - dir. Lola Frederich
Une leçon particulière - dir. Raphaël Chevènement

Tragedy!

I was extremely saddened to hear that Guillaume Depardieu, the actor son of Gérard, passed away yesterday at the age of 37. GreenCine reports that he died of pneumonia. This is very sad news indeed. Guillaume followed brilliantly in his father's footsteps, taking on challenging roles with skilled directors. He currently has two films playing in theatres in France: De la guerre, alongside Mathieu Amalric and Asia Argento, and Versailles. He was currently filming Alex Iordachescu's L'Enfance d'Icare with Alysson Paradis and set to act in his first English-language film Men Don't Lie with Michael Madsen, Leo Gregory and Margo Stilley. He shall be missed.

Notable Filmography

Versailles - dir. Pierre Schöller (2008)
De la guerre [On War] - dir. Bertrand Bonello (2008)
Peur(s) du noir [Fear(s) of the Dark] - dir. Various (2007)
La France - dir. Serge Bozon (2007)
The Duchess of Langeais [Ne touchez pas la hache] - dir. Jacques Rivette (2007)
Process - dir. C.S. Leigh (2004)
Peau d'ange - dir. Vincent Perez (2002)
A Loving Father [Aime ton père] - dir. Jacob Berger (2002)
Pola X - dir. Leos Carax (1999)
Tous les matins du monde [All the Mornings of the World] - dir. Alain Corneau