The Repentant (2002 film)
2002 film by Laetitia Masson
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The Repentant (French: La Repentie) is a 2002 French romantic thriller film written and directed by Laetitia Masson, and loosely based on the 1999 novella La Repentie by Didier Daeninckx.[4] It stars Isabelle Adjani and marked her return to the screen after four years.[2] With supporting roles by Sami Frey and Samy Naceri, Adjani portrays a woman who tries to escape her criminal past.[4] It was released by ARP Sélection on 17 April 2002.[5]
by Didier Daeninckx
| The Repentant | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| French | La Repentie |
| Directed by | Laetitia Masson |
| Screenplay by | Laetitia Masson |
| Based on | La Repentie by Didier Daeninckx |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Dominique Faysse |
| Music by | Jocelyn Pook |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | ARP Sélection |
Release date |
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Running time | 125 minutes[1] |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $8.5 million[2] |
| Box office | $655,465[3] |
Plot
A young woman retrieves a suitcase from the station depot, enters a bathroom, and emerges wearing an elegant dress and black sunglasses. She purchases a ticket for the first train to the sea, which is bound for Nice. A young man named Karim follows her and inquires about the train's direction from the conductor. The story then poses the question: Can a woman truly start a new life with another man, Paul Viard, when her past continues to haunt her?
Cast
- Isabelle Adjani as Charlotte / Leïla[6]
- Sami Frey as Paul Viard
- Samy Naceri as Karim
- Aurore Clément as Blonde woman
- Catherine Mouchet as Alice, the chambermaid
- Maria Schneider as Charlotte's sister
- Jacques Bonnaffé as Joseph
- Jean-François Stévenin as Man at party
- Isild Le Besco as Young prostitute
- José Giovanni as Charlotte's father
- Christian Aaron Boulogne as Man at wedding
- Thierry Rode as Hotel Negresco manager
- Claudine Mavros as Paul's mother
- Georges Mavros as Paul's father
- Farida Amrouche as Charlotte's mother
Production
Laetitia Masson was approached by producers looking for a vehicle to mark Isabelle Adjani's return to the screen. Adjani had established herself as a leading star of French cinema in the 1980s.[4] However, her last appearance was a minor role in Paparazzi (1998), in which she played herself.[2] Her last leading role was starring opposite Sharon Stone in Diabolique (1996), a remake of Les Diaboliques.[4] In The Repentant, Masson uses Adjani as her femme fatale and incorporates themes of mystery and impulsiveness to illustrate the feeling of starting anew.[7]
Principal photography began on 21 May 2001, with filming taking place in Paris, the Île-de-France region, Nice and Morocco. It lasted 10 weeks.[8]
Reception
Box office
The film was a modest box-office success in France, selling 85,238 admissions from 138 screens in its first week.[7] At the end of its theatrical run, it sold a total of 137,127 admissions.[9]
Critical response
The Repentant received an average rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 21 reviews.[10]
Olivier De Bruyn, writing for Première, assessed it as a "hybrid film: absolutely fascinating but a bit frustrating".[10] Gérard Lefort of Libération deemed it a film of "imperceptibility" whose best scenes were those of insignificance.[11] Michel Guilloux of L'Humanité wrote that the film accumulated clichés and the plot quickly revealed itself empty, to the point of boring the audience.[10] Les Echos's Annie Coppermann concurred, saying it rendered the audience vaguely bored but admiring the landscapes and faces of Adjani and Frey, and ultimately hoping for a proper return to film for Adjani.[12] François Gorin of Télérama similarly called it a mess filled with emptiness, but also "impossible to hate".[10]
Screen International's Patrick Frater criticized the lack of a deeper examination into the film's themes of "starting over and inventing a past". Frater, however, praised both the "sumptuous" cinematography and Jocelyn Pook's score for lifting the film "above the mean".[7]
