Nathalie

Foreign Film from France

Language - French with English Subtitles

Genre - Drama

Year Released - 2003

Running Time - 100 minutes

Directed by Anne Fontaine

Written by Anne Fontaine, Philippe Blasband, Jacques Fieschi, and Francois-Olivier Rousseau

Cast Includes:

Fanny Ardant

Emmanuelle Beart (Brian De Palma's '96 version of Mission Impossible and Vinyan)

Gerard Depardieu (The Man in the Iron Mask, 1492, 102 Dalmatians, and the Les Miserables television mini-series)

Rating: 4 Skulls

Plot Summary:

This erotic drama explores the ramifications of betrayal in a marriage. 

When Catherine discovers her husband is having an affair, she hires a stripper to seduce him and report back to her about his sexual escapades. After a time, the two women form an unlikely friendship that changes the three of them forever.

Review:

I have a soft spot for French films, whether they be horror, thriller, or drama. My favorite French drama, of all-time, is a film called Secret Things, from 2002. If you want to see just how diabolical women can be, then check out that film!

 

So, when Netflix recommended Nathalie [based on my ratings for Imagine Me & You - which I loved, as well as Sex & Lucia, another good film] I moved it to the top of my Queue [especially since Emmanuelle Beart is in it, and I was disappointed by her last film, Vinyan]

After I researched the film, I discovered that it is being re-made, here in America, under the title Chloe. This is the film that Liam Neeson was working on, when he was notified of his wife's [Natasha Richardson] skiing accident, that ended up taking her life. 

I can tell you right now that Chloe is going to pale in comparison to Nathalie, mainly due to the fact that Amanda Seyfried [the girl from Mama Mia] is going to be playing Emmanuelle Beart's character. I just do not see Seyfried being anywhere near as seductive as Beart. 

Enough of the re-make though, we'll just have to wait and see, after that one is released.

Emmanuelle Beart was 40 yrs old when she made Nathalie ~ 

Tell me that she is not still smoking hot!

Nathalie starts off with Catherine, a gynecologist, throwing a surprise birthday party for her husband. When her husband calls, informing Catherine that he missed his flight home, she informs everyone that the surprise is on them. 

After her husband returns home, he quickly has to leave for work, leaving his cell phone behind. Catherine notices that he has two new messages on his phone and decides to listen to them - one of the messages is from a woman, thanking her husband for a great night. She confronts her husband about the message and he denies everything.

Near Catherine's office is a private social club, and one day she decides to go in. Here she meets Marlene, a prostitute, and decides to hire her to see if she can seduce her husband and to report back to her with the results. 

As time goes on, Marlene [who is going by the name Nathalie] continues to report to Catherine of the affair that she is having with her husband - bizarre! 

Still, this does make for an interesting movie, and you can't help but wonder where it will ultimately end up [a very interesting result, I must say!] Not to mention that the film is worth it, for Beart alone!

Here's the trailer:


Jason