UNA VIEJA AMANTE

Paris, 1835. The Marquise de Flers is about to marry her granddaughter and jewel of the aristocracy, Hermangarde, to the debauched Ryno de Marigny. However, he has had a mistress, La Vellini, for over ten years— and she’s a scandalous and possessive courtesan who is not ready to let him go.

Not your typical period piece, Catherine Breillat’s adaptation of a 19th-century novel unlaces the corset on erotic tension to create a costume drama that is explicitly sexy. Sharing the screen with gilded, florid detail, flesh becomes baroque in and of itself in this subversively lavish film.