The Last Mistress

The Last Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse, literally "An old mistress") is a 2007 French-Italian film based on the novel Une vieille maîtresse by the French writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. It stars Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou as the two main characters. The movie was directed by the French filmmaker Catherine Breillat and was selected for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot
In 1835 Paris, Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Aït Aattou), before marrying the young and innocent Hermangarde (Roxanne Mesquida), makes a last visit to La Vellini (Asia Argento), his Spanish mistress, to bid goodbye in an act of lovemaking. His liaison with La Vellini is the subject of Parisian gossip, and before Hermangarde's grandmother gives her blessing, she wants to hear from Ryno everything about this relationship. Ryno reveals a tempestuous story but indicates that his ten-year romance is over; he now is in love with Hermangarde. After the marriage, the newlyweds move away to a castle at the seashore. They are happy and soon Hermangarde conceives. But the "last/old mistress" reappears, and while Ryno tries to keep her out of his life, she is not to be rejected, and Hermangarde finds out about it.

Cast

 * Asia Argento as La Vellini
 * Fu'ad Aït Aattou as Ryno de Marigny
 * Roxane Mesquida as Hermangarde
 * Claude Sarraute as la marquise de Flers
 * Yolande Moreau as la comtesse d'Artelles
 * Michael Lonsdale as le vicomte de Prony
 * Anne Parillaud as Mme de Solcy
 * Jean-Philippe Tessé as le vicomte de Mareuil
 * Sarah Pratt as la comtesse de Mendoze
 * Amira Casar as Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles
 * Lio as The singer
 * Isabelle Renauld as l'arrogante
 * Léa Seydoux as Oliva
 * Nicholas Hawtrey as Sir Reginald
 * Caroline Ducey as la dame de Pique
 * Jean-Claude Binoche as le comte de Cerisy
 * Thomas Hardy as le valet de Mareuil
 * Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand as le valet de Rigny
 * Eric Bouhier as le chirurgien
 * Frédéric Botton as le cardinal de Flers

Critical reception
The movie was well received by the critics. It appeared on some critics' top 10 lists of the best films of 2008. Stephen Holden of The New York Times named it the fifth best film of the year, and Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter named it the ninth best.

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 77% of 98 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus states that "More complicated than your average bodice ripper, Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress features beautiful costumes, wrought romances, and a feral performance from Argento." Metacritic gave the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 25 critics.