A stunning Michelle Pfeiffer reunites with Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears to play a cynical courtesan in love with a younger man in this sumptuous Belle Epoque drama. With Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates.
“There won't be a more visually seductive picture this year, with gorgeous art nouveau design... but its beauty is more than skin deep.” — Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Chéri 2009
Love and cynicism duel for the lives of a grand courtesan (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her pampered young lover (Mrs Palfrey's Rupert Friend) in this sumptuous adaptation of Colette. Frears' deft management of his constantly parading and bantering characters cheerfully overrides the incongruity of so many English-speaking actors purporting to be French, but he never evades the toughness at the heart of his Belle Epoque drama of love for sale. — BG
“Michelle Pfeiffer has made this film her own... Between them, Pfeiffer and director Stephen Frears have created a riveting portrait of a woman on the run from age and time. The film's intense two-handed structure may not have the narrative richness of their first collaboration, Dangerous Liaisons, but it easily stands comparison with that 21-year-old masterpiece... [The cinematography] evokes both the impressionists and the Pre-Raphaelites in every stunning, jewel-like shot.” — Lisa Mullen, Sight & Sound