Bluebeard (2009 film)
Encyclopedia
Bluebeard is a 2009 French film
directed by Catherine Breillat
.
which scares her. As Catherine rereads the story, the film moves to 1697, where two sisters, Marie-Catherine and Anne have just lost their father. With the loss of their father the two have no dowries, and so agree to attend a party thrown by Lord Bluebeard, in his search for a new wife. Although it is rumored that Bluebeard has murdered all of his previous wives, as they all disappeared within a year after the marriage, Lord Bluebeard and Marie-Catherine, the younger sister, develop a connection and are soon married. Despite their age difference the two develop a close bond, and Bluebeard dotes on his new young wife. He must leave her periodically to attend to far off business and when he does he gives her the keys to the castle and tells her to enjoy herself while he is gone. She appears to miss him terribly and is overjoyed when he returns. The second time he must leave, he gives her the keys again, as well as a small gold key, which he says will open a room in the castle, but that she is forbidden to use it and enter the room. That night she is overcome with curiosity and opens the room to find all of Bluebeard's past wives murdered and hanging. While in the room she drops the key, staining it with blood from the floor. Bluebeard returns unexpectedly the next day and discovers the blood upon the key and accuses her of entering the room. He tells her she must die, however she begs for time in the tower to make her peace with God. Bluebeard allows this, and through several other delays and distractions, she buys herself time, until two musketeers arrive and apparently behead Bluebeard.
Throughout the film, the scenes switch back and forth between the two girls reading the story, and the two sisters living it. The film closes with the older girl, Marie-Anne falling to her death as her little sister Catherine finishes the story despite Marie-Anne begging her not to, as it scares her. As Catherine cries, their mother enters (the same actress who plays the mother to the two sisters in the story) and the scene switches back to Marie-Catherine with her hands on Bluebeard's head on a platter.
.
The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 76% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon 17. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average
score of 73, based on 12 reviews.
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
directed by Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker, novelist and Professor of Auteur Cinema at the European Graduate School.-Life and career:Breillat was born in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, but grew up in Niort...
.
Plot
In the 1950s, Catherine (Marilou Lopes-Benites) toys with her older sister, Marie-Anne (Lola Giovannetti) by reading her the story of BluebeardBluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
which scares her. As Catherine rereads the story, the film moves to 1697, where two sisters, Marie-Catherine and Anne have just lost their father. With the loss of their father the two have no dowries, and so agree to attend a party thrown by Lord Bluebeard, in his search for a new wife. Although it is rumored that Bluebeard has murdered all of his previous wives, as they all disappeared within a year after the marriage, Lord Bluebeard and Marie-Catherine, the younger sister, develop a connection and are soon married. Despite their age difference the two develop a close bond, and Bluebeard dotes on his new young wife. He must leave her periodically to attend to far off business and when he does he gives her the keys to the castle and tells her to enjoy herself while he is gone. She appears to miss him terribly and is overjoyed when he returns. The second time he must leave, he gives her the keys again, as well as a small gold key, which he says will open a room in the castle, but that she is forbidden to use it and enter the room. That night she is overcome with curiosity and opens the room to find all of Bluebeard's past wives murdered and hanging. While in the room she drops the key, staining it with blood from the floor. Bluebeard returns unexpectedly the next day and discovers the blood upon the key and accuses her of entering the room. He tells her she must die, however she begs for time in the tower to make her peace with God. Bluebeard allows this, and through several other delays and distractions, she buys herself time, until two musketeers arrive and apparently behead Bluebeard.
Throughout the film, the scenes switch back and forth between the two girls reading the story, and the two sisters living it. The film closes with the older girl, Marie-Anne falling to her death as her little sister Catherine finishes the story despite Marie-Anne begging her not to, as it scares her. As Catherine cries, their mother enters (the same actress who plays the mother to the two sisters in the story) and the scene switches back to Marie-Catherine with her hands on Bluebeard's head on a platter.
Reception
Bluebeard premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
.
The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 76% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon 17. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 73, based on 12 reviews.