La Belle Captive

Alain Robbe-Grillet, still best known for his complex screenplay for the enigmatic classic Last Year in Marienbad, adapted his own surreal, erotically-charged novel in this diverting yet forgettable 1983 film. An Everyman named Walter (Daniel Mesguich), apparently working for Sara Zeitgeist (Cyrielle Claire), is given the task of delivering a letter to an ambassador. During the assignment, Walter finds the lovely but bloodstained Marie-Ange (Gabrielle Lazure) lying in the middle of the road (he remembers her from a nightclub encounter some time before, but she is clearly in no condition to enjoy a memory lane stroll). Walter takes Marie-Ange to a doctor's villa, which appears to be occupied by a small army of weirdoes, but—reminiscent of Last Year in Marienbad—it's never entirely certain whether this is all a feverish dream or if Walter is genuinely living in the midst of a Dadaist nightmare. La Belle Captive looks great, thanks to an attractive cast and Henri Alekan's crisp cinematography, but the film ultimately falls captive to its own artsy pretensions, and viewers are likely to eventually lose interest in the posing and vamping onscreen. Not recommended. (P. Hall)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Jan. 27, 2015—Olive, 89 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $34.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1983's La Belle Captive features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack on the Blu-ray release, but no extras beyond the original theatrical trailer. Bottom line: Robbe-Grillet's love-it-or-hate-it arty erotic film sparkles on Blu-ray.]