Cheri (film)
Encyclopedia
Chéri is a 2009 drama film
directed by Stephen Frears
. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer
and Rupert Friend
, it is an adaptation of the novel of the same name
by French
author Colette
. The film premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival
.
Paris
, Chéri tells the story of the end of a six-year affair between an aging retired courtesan
, Léa, and a flamboyant
young man, Fred, nicknamed "Chéri" ("Dear").
Although Léa only plans on keeping Chéri around for a short while, their affair turns into a six-year ordeal, in which Léa has begun paying for Chéri's expenses, and Chéri wears Léa's silk pajamas and pearls. The two believe their affair to be casual, and Léa learns from Charlotte that she has arranged for Chéri to marry the daughter of another courtesan, a barely eighteen-year-old named Edmée. Although Chéri does not wish to marry Edmée, it is made clear that he has no choice in the matter. Léa kicks him out of her home, but makes Chéri promise to always be gentle and kind with Edmée, and to try and give her a good life. After Chéri agrees, the two part ways, and do not share glances at Chéri's wedding. It is only after Chéri is on the train to Italy for his honeymoon that both he and Léa realize they are in love with each other. Chéri rapes Edmée and, while taking her virginity, realizes that while sex with Edmée is strained and painful, sex with Léa was easy and fun. Léa visits Charlotte one last time before running off on vacation, making up a story in which she is involved in with another suitor, when in fact the only man Léa beds while on vacation is a young bodybuilder whom she has no feelings for and regards as a one-night-stand.
Meanwhile, Edmée accuses Chéri of not caring about her, and says all he ever does is think of Léa. While out on the town with a friend, Chéri tries opium
and cocaine
, and on his way back he notices that Léa's apartment is no longer empty, and she has returned home. Feeling refreshed, Chéri runs home to Edmée where he makes love to her properly and kindly. He sends Charlotte the next day to inspect Léa's home, whereupon Léa says she is madly in love with her new "suitor", and learns (falsely) from Charlotte that Chéri and Edmée are crazily in love and happier than ever. That night, after hearing from Charlotte that Léa is in love with her suitor, Chéri breaks into her home and admits he loves her. The two spend one more night together and plan on running away. In the morning, however, Léa apologizes to Chéri for "ruining him" and making life too easy on him when they first begun their affair. Léa tells Chéri to go back to Edmée, for their age difference would always prevent a true relationship blossoming between them. Tentatively, Chéri leaves. Léa stares into her mirror at her aging face, and the narrator reveals she is angry for being born two decades before Chéri. The narrator also reveals that, after a while, Chéri realizes that Léa was the only woman he could ever love, and he commits suicide.
The movie got mixed reviews: The Times
of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache."
Roger Ebert
in the Chicago Sun-Times
wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt."
Kenneth Turan
in the Los Angeles Times
praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."
At Rotten Tomatoes
it has a 54% or 'Rotten' rating, with "Cream of the Crop" critics giving it a 50% rating. Much of the criticism centers on its weak script and poorly executed romance scenes.
At Metacritic
, it received "generally favorable reviews" based on 27 critic reviews.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Stephen Frears
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Rupert Friend
Rupert Friend
Rupert Friend is an English film actor, who is best known for his roles as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Prince Albert in the 2009 film The Young Victoria.-Career:He made his debut in the film The...
, it is an adaptation of the novel of the same name
Chéri (novel)
Chéri is a novel by Colette first published in French in 1920. The title character's true name is Fred Peloux, but he is known as Chéri to almost everyone, except, usually, to his wife...
by French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
author Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
. The film premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival
59th Berlin International Film Festival
The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009. The opening film of this year's festival was Tom Tykwer’s The International, screened out of competition...
.
Plot
Set in 1900s Belle ÉpoqueBelle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Chéri tells the story of the end of a six-year affair between an aging retired courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
, Léa, and a flamboyant
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
young man, Fred, nicknamed "Chéri" ("Dear").
Although Léa only plans on keeping Chéri around for a short while, their affair turns into a six-year ordeal, in which Léa has begun paying for Chéri's expenses, and Chéri wears Léa's silk pajamas and pearls. The two believe their affair to be casual, and Léa learns from Charlotte that she has arranged for Chéri to marry the daughter of another courtesan, a barely eighteen-year-old named Edmée. Although Chéri does not wish to marry Edmée, it is made clear that he has no choice in the matter. Léa kicks him out of her home, but makes Chéri promise to always be gentle and kind with Edmée, and to try and give her a good life. After Chéri agrees, the two part ways, and do not share glances at Chéri's wedding. It is only after Chéri is on the train to Italy for his honeymoon that both he and Léa realize they are in love with each other. Chéri rapes Edmée and, while taking her virginity, realizes that while sex with Edmée is strained and painful, sex with Léa was easy and fun. Léa visits Charlotte one last time before running off on vacation, making up a story in which she is involved in with another suitor, when in fact the only man Léa beds while on vacation is a young bodybuilder whom she has no feelings for and regards as a one-night-stand.
Meanwhile, Edmée accuses Chéri of not caring about her, and says all he ever does is think of Léa. While out on the town with a friend, Chéri tries opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
and cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, and on his way back he notices that Léa's apartment is no longer empty, and she has returned home. Feeling refreshed, Chéri runs home to Edmée where he makes love to her properly and kindly. He sends Charlotte the next day to inspect Léa's home, whereupon Léa says she is madly in love with her new "suitor", and learns (falsely) from Charlotte that Chéri and Edmée are crazily in love and happier than ever. That night, after hearing from Charlotte that Léa is in love with her suitor, Chéri breaks into her home and admits he loves her. The two spend one more night together and plan on running away. In the morning, however, Léa apologizes to Chéri for "ruining him" and making life too easy on him when they first begun their affair. Léa tells Chéri to go back to Edmée, for their age difference would always prevent a true relationship blossoming between them. Tentatively, Chéri leaves. Léa stares into her mirror at her aging face, and the narrator reveals she is angry for being born two decades before Chéri. The narrator also reveals that, after a while, Chéri realizes that Léa was the only woman he could ever love, and he commits suicide.
Cast
- Michelle PfeifferMichelle PfeifferMichelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
as Léa de Lonval - Rupert FriendRupert FriendRupert Friend is an English film actor, who is best known for his roles as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Prince Albert in the 2009 film The Young Victoria.-Career:He made his debut in the film The...
as Fred 'Chéri' Peloux - Kathy BatesKathy BatesKathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
as Madame Charlotte Peloux - Felicity JonesFelicity JonesFelicity Jones is an English actress from Birmingham. She is best known to television audiences for her role as the school bully Ethel Hallow in the first series of The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College...
as Edmée - Frances TomeltyFrances TomeltyFrances Tomelty is a Northern Irish actress and the first wife of Sting. She is the daughter of Belfast actor Joseph Tomelty ....
as Rose - Anita PallenbergAnita PallenbergAnita Pallenberg is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving...
as La Copine - Harriet WalterHarriet WalterDame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
as La Loupiote - Iben HjejleIben HjejleIben Hjejle is a Danish actress, notable for starring in the John Cusack film High Fidelity . In Denmark, she is perhaps best known for appearing in the Danish television sitcom Langt fra Las Vegas and playing the girlfriend of Danish comedian Casper Christensen, her real life boyfriend...
as Marie Laure
Reception
Chéri selected Berlin Film Festival official competition.The movie got mixed reviews: The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt."
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."
At 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...
it has a 54% or 'Rotten' rating, with "Cream of the Crop" critics giving it a 50% rating. Much of the criticism centers on its weak script and poorly executed romance scenes.
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,...
, it received "generally favorable reviews" based on 27 critic reviews.