NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL: Catherine Breillat's fierce fairy tale

(Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Pyramide Films)

"Bluebeard" screening Oct. 11 at the New York Film Festival. For more information visit filmlinc.org. 

A child bride, a wealthy serial killer and a creepy mansion on the hill—it sounds like the premise of a suspenseful modern thriller. But it's actually the premise of provocative French director Catherine Breillat's newest movie to screen at the New York Film Festival, "Bluebeard." Breillat retells the classic fairytale of a curious young wife and the secrets her husband keeps behind closed doors with her signature female-centric film making. While "Bluebeard" is not any where near as sexually explicit as some of Breillat's previous movies such as "Romance" or "The Last Mistress" (which played at NYFF in 2007), her sexual politics and her rival siblings are as incendiary as usual.

Breillat adapts the Bluebeard story in two parts: one pair of sisters in modern day explore an attic storage room and read aloud the fairy tale, while another pair of sisters act out the scenes in the 16th century. In both duos it's the youngest who is the most precocious, egging on her older sister with taunts and competition. In the 16th century, the two girls have been left penniless after their father is killed in an accident. A nearby wealthy landowner invites them to his estate and offers to marry one to save the family from penury. Even though the sisters have heard the tales of Bluebeard's missing wives, the youngest decides to take him up on his offer. However, no relationship with a man whose beard has an otherworldly blue hue is going to end happily ever after. But you knew that already.

Just as in her 2001 movie "Fat Girl," Breillat has cast some phenomenal young actresses. Self-possessed and yet sweetly innocent, all four performances are surprisingly naturalistic and even funny. It's a surprise in such a stylized fairy tale story. Another signature Breillat touch is her use of stunning costumes and set dressing, and "Bluebeard"'s decor doesn't disappoint. The director told the audience at a press conference for "The Last Mistress" two years ago that despite her physical limitations (she suffered from a stroke in 2004), she insisted upon purchasing many of the period props and materials herself. That attention to visual detail is all over "Bluebeard" as well, from the lush costumes to the ornate place-settings at Bluebeard's dinner table. Even when Bluebeard brandishes a curved knife, threatening to chop off his disobedient wife's head, I couldn't help but marvel at what an amazing looking sword Breillat had found. If you're going to nearly loose your life to your maniac husband, at least it's with his fanciest sabre.