The Bridesmaid (2004)

So much average

One of the best films i have seen

An unexpected masterpiece

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

Ruth Rendell's novel "The Bridesmaid" is the basis for this French film directed by Claude Chabrol. The director had a huge success adapting another Rendell's book, "A Judgment in Stone" that became the hit "La Ceremonie". Ms. Rendell stories always have a central flawed character, as is the case with Senta, a strange young woman.The story begins as Sophie and her sister Patricia are watching a news program on television, a sensational crime is in the headlines. Their single mother, Christine, works as a hairdresser from her modest, but comfortable home. Philippe, who is the other member of this family does not approve of the man his mother is seeing. To make matters worse, Christine's intentions of involve keeping Gerard Courtois, who clearly has no intention of marrying her.As the wedding approaches, a bridesmaid is needed to complete the party, the groom suggest a cousin, Stephanie, a strange young woman who has named herself Senta, after the heroine of the Wagner opera, The Flying Dutchman. At the party that follows the wedding, Senta meets Philippe, who finds her intriguing. Their relationship will have fatal consequences because of Senta's strange behavior and possessiveness.We had a vivid recollection of the novel, which we enjoyed tremendously. The adaptation of Mr. Chabrol and his collaborator Pierre Leccia, while following the story line of the novel turns out to be not as involving than the written page, although the director gets the essence of the book.Benoit Maginel, a young French actor had worked with Mr. Chabrol prior to this film, and went to star in 'La fille coupee en deux", does well as Philippe, the young man that falls hopelessly in love with a deranged woman. Laura Smet plays Senta, the woman who drives Philippe crazy. Aurore Clement appears as Christine, the mother. Michel Duchaussoy has a brief role as the vagrant that annoys Senta.Eduardo Serra, the cinematographer, keeps the dark atmosphere of the novel in check with the gray skies of Nantes and locations around Loire-Atlantique to great effect. The soundtrack is by the director's own son Matthieu. Even though this is not one of the best films by Mr. Chabrol, it must be viewed by all his fans.

It's not clear to me why the vast majority of the users of this web site give this film such a high rating. There wasn't much I could find of substance: The plot is somewhat thin, and not developed as it could have been. Senta presents four conditions for totally committed love, including two that would be rejected by most people. However, the protagonist only deals with one of these. It would have been far more interesting if he had dealt with both. At least there would be some progression of the plot, which eventually could reach its conclusion or unravel (I'm avoiding spoilers here). The character of Senta is not believable, in the sense of being an irresistible force. Her speech is too clipped and with little intonation. Perhaps this is the way of modern French speech. Further, there is little in the way of body language or eye movement to reflect the irresistible force. Or perhaps the protagonist is simply too messed up and seeks solace in whichever live female (not statue) that crosses his path.

This movie did not particularly convince me. Maybe my expectations went in a completely wrong direction but nevertheless I discovered some flaws that really disturbed my pleasure of this basically interesting film.The plot line grows more and more absurd and - in its absurdity - predictable as the story goes on. This would not matter to me (as I do not really mind that we are never given an explanation for the strange and questionable features that strike us right from the beginning, especially in connection with Senta and the bust) if the characters were a little more subtly portrayed. All of the characters (Magimel's at the least) are exaggerated and near-hysterical, and therefore close to various type clichés (the rebelling teen daughter stealing, colouring her hair AND piercing her nose; the bridegroom, who is revealed as an idiot the instant we see him, calling his bride embarrassing terms of endearment; the mother smiling hopefully throughout as if she was on drugs). I am sure all this is not due to bad acting but done so intentionally. But I fail to understand what kind of quality it is supposed to add to the film. Humour? I don't know; I laughed occasionally but not very often.This is the kind of film that I am sure is fun making; but then it should not be shown publicly.

Having read the book 'The Bridesmaid', I was gratified that this film was a very good representation of it. It kept close to the story and did not alter anything. Even though my image of Senta as she is portrayed in the book was different to that of the one in the film, it didn't matter as her personality was accurately portrayed - indeed, all the characters were excellent. Benoit Magimel was exactly how I imagined the main character, both in looks and behaviour.The impact of the events would have been greater to those who haven't read the book (ie I knew what was going to happen) but I found it satisfying and would highly recommend this film.Ruth Rendell's plots are so clever, with a twist in the tail, and it is important that a film captures this, and Chabrol manages it perfectly.