Desire is a great emotion that man has always struggled to control and its a subject that continues to fascinate director Catherine Breillat. After 'Fat Girl' and 'Romance' her latest feature 'The Last Mistress' just may be her greatest achievement. A large part of the film's success is her collaboration with Asia Argento, who like Breillat has starred and even directed films about struggles with desire. Based on Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's 1851 novel, 'The Last Mistress' is Breillat's first period picture, but the power of its emotional story is right up her alley.
Engaged to marry the virginous Hermangarde (Fat Girl's Roxane Mesquida), Ryno de Marigny's (Fu'ad Ait Aattou) womanizing past is called into question by the girl's grandmother La Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute). She doesn't want Hermangarde's heart to be broken nor shamed by the scandalous past of her future husband and invites the young man to discuss his history with the scandalous Vellini (Argento), daughter of an Italian princess and Spanish matador.
La Marquise may be overprotective of her granddaughter, but she's also an understanding woman having led a life of excess herself. Ryno reveals to her the history of his decade long affair with Vellini whose licentious and independent nature has been frowned upon by high society. What began as a game for both of them turned into a full blown love affair when Ryno allowed himself to be wounded in a duel over Vellini's honor with her former and much older husband. Though tragedy, put a strain on their relationship, the two were continually drawn to each other, yet Ryno assures La Marquise that she is out of his life forever because he is in love with her granddaughter.
Though Vellini continues to brazenly pursue Ryno to reignite their affair, he's convinced he has moved on but is he deluding himself? As Ryno's retelling of his and Vellini's story progresses, it becomes more and more evident that the souls of the two are intertwined. Though his own desire for her brings him great pain, he finds it difficult to resist the one person that may be his true love.
Though libertine Ryno is initially the aggressive pursuer, its revealed in time that Vellini represents the masculine side of the relationship. Young actor Aattou does a fine job as a confident young man who finds himself succumbing to love, but Argento is actually the driving force of the film. She is a sexual dynamo, so sensual and ferocious in her performance that watching her fiercely devouring an ice cream cone is fascinating. She's quite confident and bold to the point where when she pays a visit to Ryno recovering from his gunshot wound she seeks to quench her desire by licking his blood.
This may be a period film, set in the 19th century, but it shares a lot in common with contemporary stories, with Ryno and especially Vellini resembling the young men and independent women of today. Argento is definitely the "male" of the relationship. Toward the end of the picture its no coincidence that while smoking a cigar by the sea, Vellini's outfit resembles Brando in 'The Wild One.'
