On Tuesday January 27 at 8pm in the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone Film Club is screening the Last Mistress (Une Vielle Maitresse ), the 2007 French-Italian movie based on a controversial novel by French writer Jules Amedee Barbe d'Aurevilly.
The ever provocative director Catherine Breillat tackles this 19th century literary classic and decorum goes out the window! The Last Mistress is a ferocious feminist revision of the myth of the femme fatale, incarnated by Spanish courtesan Vellini (Asia Argento ), whose intemperate passions come between amoral fop Ryno (the androygnously pretty Ait Aattou ), and his naive bride (Mesquida ).
Sumptuously shot, the film plays stately sobriety against torrid melodrama and excess both emotional and carnal.
An intelligent disquisition on sex and society, the Last Mistress is costume drama with no holds barred as it depicts the secrets, rumours, and betrayals surrounding the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and appears on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.
So forget those cold, grey Irish winter evenings and be transported away to the passion and drama of 19th century France.
Doors open at 7.30pm where you will be treated to a glass of complimentary wine in the bar. Film screens at 8pm sharp. Membership is €30 for the season, €50 for a couple, and €25 for OAP's and students. Temporary membership is €7.
For more information email [email protected].
