An erotic game in which the temptress is commissioned to seduce a man caught in flagranti delicto and has her own little deck of cards which she decides to use against the person who sets her up to this game. It sounds complicated, but it isn't, and NATHALIE... is one of the breeziest movies I've seen in a long time. It never decides if it really wants us to believe that the call girl Christine hires to play with her husband is really doing so, but Nathalie's own incursions into her own sensual world seem to play into the gnawing thoughts of Christine. All throughout, there's this delightful feeling of suspense, not because someone may wind up getting whacked in the head, but because there seems to be more than one secret to be disclosed at a key moment and the story walks a tightrope between what is clear, what is implied, and what never has happened with the deft pacing of a graceful ballerina. It helps that even at its drabbest moments, there's this intoxicating aura of saturation, colors that wouldn't exist in real life, but glow with their own inner life, a suggestion of the inner lives of the two women at the center of the story. It's appropriate, as well, to a story steaming with erotic overtones all throughout -- this is Marguerite Duras for the new century, with two people engaged in a subtle battle of who's framing who while one tells stories, and the other seems to take in like a sponge and only hint at reactions. Excellent is the choice of casting Emmanuelle Beart as the icy sex kitten and Fanny Ardant as the reserved professional who here bears more than a passing resemblance to Ingrid Bergman, circa CACTUS FLOWER (in more ways than one). If there's any less interesting character it's that of Gerard Depardieu, and his small role is there for a crucial reason. It's a shame that this movie didn't get more critical acclaim because it's a very well-told story, with modulated performances -- the type that simmer like bubbles in champagne -- and even when it is an erotic story of the oldest type, it doesn't feel stale.
Review of Nathalie...
