When a wife suspects her husband of cheating, she turns the tables in novel fashion in this 2003 erotic mystery from Dry Cleaning's Anne Fontaine. It begins when Catherine (Ridicule's Fanny Ardant), a Parisian gynecologist, arranges a surprise birthday party for her realtor husband, Gerald (The Last Metro's Gérard Depardieu), but he misses his plane from Zurich. This doesn't appear to be an isolated incident, so when he arrives the next day and leaves his cell phone unattended, Catherine checks his messages and finds evidence that he had an extramarital affair.
When she confronts him, he denies it at first, until she mentions the message. Realizing he's been caught, he owns up, insisting that it didn't mean anything. That isn't good enough for Catherine, but she appears to let it go. Later, while walking past a gentleman’s club, she gets an idea. She goes in and spots Marlène (Emmanuelle Béart, who starred with Ardant in François Ozon's 8 Women). Convinced that Gerald would find the doe-eyed blonde attractive, she hires her to drop by his favorite bistro, ask for a light, introduce herself as "Nathalie," and let nature takes its course.
When Gerald and Nathalie sleep together almost immediately afterward, Catherine puts a stop to the arrangement. She had just wanted to see if he would take the bait. After curiosity gets the best of her, she rehires Nathalie and requests details. Though Fontaine limits the film's nudity to Béart's scenes, Nathalie describes her evenings with Gerald in explicit terms.
As the affair continues, Fontaine withholds key information, like Nathalie's true feelings about both Catherine and Gerald. She appears to enjoy the company of these bourgeois people, but it could just be a well-paid act. As for Catherine, it isn't clear what she finds more appealing, Nathalie or her sexy stories, not least because Ardant plays Catherine as an especially opaque character. The situation grows even cloudier when Catherine hires Nathalie, who works as a cosmetician by day, to style her housebound mother's hair, leading to a social evening with the three unlikely companions. Catherine also agrees to rent an apartment for Nathalie--on the condition that she doesn't invite Gerald over to stay the night.
During their dalliances, Nathalie claims that Gerald has fallen in love with her and that he's thinking of leaving Catherine. Just when it seems as if something has to give, it does since all three of these people are hiding their true feelings. The lying begins with Gerald, but it doesn't end there, and though he sets the plot into motion, Fontaine, who co-wrote the script with Jacques Fieschi and François-Olivier Rousseau, is more interested in the relationship between the two women. Though Catherine's income and social status give her considerably more power, Nathalie proves a formidable competitor for her affections.
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan would remake the film in 2009 to more overtly sapphic effect as Chloe with Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried, but Fontaine's more restrained approach proves a better fit for the material.
What kind of film series would this narrative film fit in?
If you are a film programmer for your local library, university, or community organization, consider Nathalie... for a film series on French cinema, directed by women, or the work of Anne Fontaine.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Nathalie... would be suitable for drama, romance, and international collections in public libraries.
What academic library shelves would this title be on?
Nathalie... could enhance an academic film studies collection focused on French cinema, particularly films made by women.