The Bridesmaid

I had been meaning to watch this movie for a while, based on the cover art it looked like something that would be up my alley. It is a pretty simple image, a women is checking her makeup in the bathroom mirror, shes all wet and a man is watching her.

The movie starts very slowly, and on a strange note, we spend around 20 minutes getting to know the characters and watching how they react to their mother dating a man who turns out to be somewhat of a dick. They give him a gift of a statue head, which means a lot to the son, our main character named Philippe. I see why they put this part in because the man that their mother is seeing ends up being important later, but they didn't need to stretch out this part so long. The story moves on that the man stops calling the mother and they get ready for the sister Sophia's wedding. At the wedding Philippe meets "Senta" her real name is Stephanie, she stares at him, but when he speaks to her she is generally cold. He leaves the reception and she shows up at his house soaking wet from the rain, she disrobes and....you get the picture.

So they start this affair, and it is intense, she says she loves him right away, that he is hers and she is his. I'm talking about hours after they've met. He as well like her is pretty smitten and seems to be playing along some what so then she wont feel weird. That's when we start finding out more about her, and after a while she starts to get a little scary, she wants him to kill for her to prove his love. I'll leave it at that.

It was mixing of genres that was both fresh and painfully strange, don't get me wrong, I certainly liked it, but he was just as sick as she is to go along with her insanity and obsessions for as long as he did. The title either refers to Senta, or one other person who you "meet" right towards the end. Either works, the second of which being a little more twisted. If Senta wasn't such a nut it would be a beautiful and romantic love story, and perhaps it still is, but it's doomed.

They mix Romance and Thriller and barely blink an eye, instead of trying to meld the two genres they just shoot it as if this was already a normal genre unto itself. There werent any exceptional shoots, it was mostly just coverage. There are such romantic notions in it, at one point in the middle of the night she says take me to the beach, and they get in the car and drive to the ocean and sit on the beach together, terribly romantic, if only she would have stayed that way.

I enjoyed it, but its not for everyone. If you are looking for a romance you will not like this, but I think if you like understated thrillers this might do it for you. 7/10 stars.

Director: Claude Chabrol

Starring: Benoit Magimel, Laura Smet