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The Repentant (2002 film)

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The Repentant
Theatrical release poster
FrenchLa Repentie
Directed byLaetitia Masson
Screenplay byLaetitia Masson
Based onLa Repentie
by Didier Daeninckx
Produced by
  • Michèle Pétin
  • Laurent Pétin
Starring
Cinematography
  • Antoine Héberlé
  • Georges Diane
Edited byDominique Faysse
Music byJocelyn Pook
Production
companies
Distributed byARP Sélection
Release date
  • 17 April 2002 (2002-04-17) (France)
Running time
125 minutes[1]
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$8.5 million[2]
Box office$655,465[3]

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]

Plot

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A young woman picks up a suitcase from the station depot, enters a bathroom and comes out in an elegant dress with black sunglasses. She buys a ticket for the first train traveling to the sea (Nice). A young man, Karim, follows her and asks the conductor for the direction of the train. Can a woman live a new life with another man, Paul Viard, when a past haunts her?

Cast

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Production

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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

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Box office

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ Nesselson, Lisa (17 April 2002). "The Repentant". Variety. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Screen International AFM news round-up". Screen International. 21 February 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  3. ^ "The Repentant (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Dobson, Julia (2019). Negotiating the auteur: Dominique Cabrera, Noémie Lvovsky, Laetitia Masson and Marion Vernoux. French Film Directors Series. Manchester University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-5261-4170-5. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  5. ^ Seguret, Olivier (13 March 2002). "Cassette pour plan de reconquête". Libération (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  6. ^ Lefort, Gérard (17 April 2002). "'Moi et pas moi'". Libération (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Frater, Patrick (2 May 2002). "The Repentant (La Repentie)". Screen International. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  8. ^ "La repentie" (in French). ARP Sélection. Retrieved 3 February 2004.
  9. ^ "La Repentie (2002)". JP Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d "Critiques Presse pour le film La Repentie". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  11. ^ Lefort, Gérard (17 April 2002). "Miroirs, brouillard". Libération (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  12. ^ Coppermann, Annie (17 April 2002). "Adjani, le retour". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.

Further reading

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  • Halberstadt, Michèle (2002). Adjani aux pieds nus – Journal de la repentie. Paris: Editions Calmann-Lévy. ISBN 2-7021-3293-6
  • O'Neill, Eithne. Positif. No. 495. May 2002. p. 74
  • Roger, Philippe. Études. June 2002 [1]
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