''Marguerite & Julien'' (french: Marguerite et Julien) is a 2015 French
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Valérie Donzelli
Valérie Donzelli (born 2 March 1973) is a French actress, filmmaker and screenwriter. She has directed five feature films and two short films since 2008, including the film ''Declaration of War'' (2011).
Early life
Valérie Donzelli was born ...
about a brother and sister involved in an
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...
uous relationship.
The film is based on a 1970s screenplay written by
Jean Gruault
Jean Gruault (3 August 1924 – 8 June 2015) was a French screenwriter and actor. He wrote 25 films between 1960 and 1995. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 1980 film '' Mon oncle ...
for
François Truffaut, which in turn is based on the true story of aristocratic siblings
Marguerite and Julien de Ravalet who were executed in the 17th century on charges of incest and adultery. It was selected to compete for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
2015 Cannes Film Festival
The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...
.
Plot
A group of children at an orphanage talk about rumors of Julien and Marguerite de Ravalet, siblings who are on the run for committing incest, and one of the caretakers tells the story about the siblings.
As children, Julien and Marguerite shared a close relationship and were deeply devoted to each other. After Julien saves Marguerite from a horse riding incident, their uncle, Abbot, feels uneasiness in the siblings’ relationship. He advises their father, Jean, to send Julien and his older brother, Phillipe, to study abroad on the excuse Marguerite is distracting their education.
Six years pass, during which Marguerite refuses to marry and spends her time alone. When Julien and Phillipe return, Marguerite shares a joyous reunion with Julien. Their parents arrange for her to be betrothed to Marigny, who is crippled but kind to Marguerite. However, Marguerite is uninterested and Julien exhibits jealousy towards Marigny.
During dinner with Marigny, Julien excuses himself with Marguerite following him. It is the first time Julien and Marguerite are alone with each other and the attraction is too much to overcome. They try and fight it since they are not willing to admit that they are in love. Instead, they play an increasingly sexual game that includes trying to make the other shudder and squirm.
After being gone for a while, their parents find them partially undressed and punish them for causing Marigny to cancel the engagement. Marguerite later meets with Julien in secret and confesses her love to him but, although he reciprocates, he rejects her. She tries to kiss him but he quickly leaves.
Shortly after, Marguerite is married to Lefevre, a wealthy tax collector. When he tries to initiate sex with Marguerite, she locks him out of her bedroom. The marriage quickly becomes extremely unhappy and Lefevre begins physically abusing Marguerite. She tries to seek help from her parents but they demand she stay with her husband. Julien later finds out what is happening and frees Marguerite by beating Lefevre and allowing her to return home. That same night, Julien and Marguerite have sex for the first time.
A maid catches Julien in bed with Marguerite, and tells their parents. Their father contemplates sending Julien away but their mother, wanting to make her children happy, arranges for them to secretly run away together. Lefevre files charges against Julien and Marguerite for incest and adultery, and they are declared fugitives.
After traveling for several weeks, they arrive in
Fougères
Fougères (; br, Felger; Gallo: ''Foujerr'') is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in the region of Brittany in northwestern France.
As of 2017, Fougères had 20,418 inhabitants. The Fougères area comprises appr ...
, and Marguerite discovers she is pregnant. Marguerite disguises herself as a man to hide her identity but the authorities receive a tip on their whereabouts. Before they can board a ship to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, they are arrested.
At trial, both deny the charges and claim they ran away because Julien helped Marguerite escape from her abusive husband. Their father petitions
King Henri IV
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
to spare his children but the king says he cannot tolerate incest and refuses to pardon them. Meanwhile, Marguerite gives birth to a son, who is placed in the care of a nunnery.
At the trial's conclusion, Julien and Marguerite are found guilty and sentenced to death. Marguerite pleads for her brother to be released and screams she is the only one guilty but no one listens to her.
The next day, Julien and Marguerite arrive at
Place de Grève
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
for their execution. Julien is executed first and Marguerite dies from the shock before she too is decapitated. After the execution, the Château is abandoned.
Julien and Marguerite's father and brother arrange to have the baby snuck out of the nunnery. The nun that brings them the baby reveals Marguerite named the baby Julien prior to her death. The de Ravalet family leaves, taking the baby with them.
Cast
*
Anaïs Demoustier
Anaïs Demoustier (; born Anaïs Aude Marie Michèle Demoustier; 29 September 1987) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 2000.
Personal life
During the filming of ''Marguerite & Julien'', Demoustier began dating ...
as Marguerite de Ravalet
*
Jérémie Elkaïm
Jérémie Elkaïm (born 29 August 1978) is a French actor, screenwriter and film director best known for his role in ''Presque rien'' (US title: ''Come Undone'', 2000). In the film, he plays Mathieu, a troubled, emotionally fragile teen who fi ...
as Julien de Ravalet
*
Frédéric Pierrot
Frédéric Pierrot (born 17 September 1960) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 120 films and television shows since 1986. He starred in the film '' Tell Me I'm Dreaming'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the ...
as Jean de Ravalet
*
Aurélia Petit
Aurélia Petit (18 April 1971) is a French actress. In the year 1984, Petit began her theater career. For a year, she went to theater school with the famous Niels Arestrup. Since 1993, she has been seen in French television shows and movies. In ...
as Madame de Ravalet
*
Raoul Fernandez as Lefevbre
*
Catherine Mouchet as Jacqueline
*
Geraldine Chaplin
Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress. She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of eight children with his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill. After beginnings in dance and modeling, she turned her attention to act ...
as Lefebvre's mother
*
Bastien Bouillon
Bastien Bouillon is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 30 film and television productions since 2009. He is the son of the stage director Gilles Bouillon.
Filmography
Theatre
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bou ...
as Philippe
*
Sami Frey
Sami Frey (born Samuel Frei; 13 October 1937) is a French actor of Iranian Jewish descent. Among the films he starred in are '' En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud'' (1993), in which he portrays French poet and playwright Antonin Artaud, and '' Bande ...
as the Abbot of Hambye
*
Maxime Dambrin as Marigny
*
Alice de Lencquesaing
Alice de Lencquesaing (; born 11 August 1991) is a French actress who appeared in Mia Hansen-Løve's 2009 film '' Father of My Children'' with her father Louis-Do de Lencquesaing
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (born 25 December 1963) is a French act ...
as Nicole
*
Philippe Laudenbach
Philippe Laudenbach (born 31 January 1936) is a French actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films since 1963.
Career
Nephew of Pierre Fresnay (born Peter Laudenbach), Philippe is formed to the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He ...
as Lieutenant
*
Esther Garrel
Esther Garrel (born 18 February 1991) is a French actress. She is most known for her roles in ''17 Girls'' (2011), ''Jealousy'' (2013), '' Call Me by Your Name'' (2017), and '' Thirst Street'' (2017).
Early life
Garrel was born in Paris, the dau ...
as The storyteller
Reception
Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported an approval rating of 29%, based on 7 reviews, with an average score of 3.5/10. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 35, based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Boyd van Hoeij of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' called it "ambitiously mounted but wildly uneven".
[
]
See also
* Julien and Marguerite de Ravalet
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marguerite And Julien
2015 films
2015 drama films
2010s French-language films
French drama films
French films based on actual events
Incest in film
Films directed by Valérie Donzelli
Films about siblings
2010s French films