''Brotherhood of the Wolf'' (french: Le Pacte des loups) is a 2001 French period action

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

directed by

Christophe Gans Christophe Gans (born 11 March 1960) is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter who specializes in horror and fantasy movies. Life and career Gans was born in Antibes, France. As a teenager, he spent a large portion of his time cre ...

, co-written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel, and starring

Samuel Le Bihan Samuel Le Bihan (born 2 November 1965) is a French actor, known for his role in '' Brotherhood of the Wolf''. Selected filmography Film * 1993: , directed by René Féret * 1993: , directed by René Féret * 1993: ' (''Three Colours: Red''), ...

Mark Dacascos Mark Alan Dacascos (born February 26, 1964) is an American actor, martial artist and television personality. He won numerous karate and kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18. He is known for his roles as Wo Fat in '' Hawaii Five-0' ...

Émilie Dequenne Émilie Dequenne (, born 29 August 1981) is a Belgian actress. She first gained attention for playing the title character in the film ''Rosetta'' (1999), which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She then went on to star ...

, Monica Bellucci and

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he received two César Award nom ...

. The story takes place in 18th-century France, where the Chevalier de Fronsac and Mani of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

tribe are sent to investigate the mysterious slaughter of hundreds by an unknown creature in the province of

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; oc, Gavaudan, Gevaudan) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the c ...

. The plot is loosely based on a real-life series of killings that took place in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 18th century and the famous legend of the

beast of Gévaudan The Beast of Gévaudan (french: La Bête du Gévaudan, ; oc, La Bèstia de Gavaudan) is the historic name associated with a man-eating animal or animals that terrorised the former province of Gévaudan (consisting of the modern-day department of ...

; parts of the film were shot at Château de Roquetaillade. The film has several extended swashbuckling fight scenes, with martial arts performances by the cast mixed in, making it unusual for a historical drama. The special effects for the creature are a combination of computer generated imagery, as well as puppetry and animatronics designed by

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally ...

. The film received generally positive critical reviews, highlighting its high production values, cinematography, performances and Gans' atmospheric direction. At a $29 million budget, it was a commercial success, grossing over $70 million in worldwide theatrical release. The film also became the sixth-highest-grossing

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...

film of all time in the United States, and it also became one of the biggest international successes for French-language films. The film's 4K restored "Director's Cut" version premiered in the Official Selection of 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, Marquis d'Apcher writes his memoirs in his castle. He recounts to 1764, when a mysterious beast terrorized the province of

. Grégoire de Fronsac, a knight and the royal naturalist of King

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, and his

companion Mani, arrive to capture the beast. Fronsac becomes interested in Marianne de Morangias, the daughter of a local count, whose brother, Jean-François, was also an avid hunter and a world traveller, whose arm was mangled and rendered useless while overseas. Fronsac is also intrigued by Sylvia, an Italian courtesan at the local

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

. While investigating another victim, Fronsac finds a fang made of steel. A traumatized child witness swears that the beast is controlled by what seems to be a human master. As the investigation proves unfruitful, the king's weapons master, Lord de Beauterne, arrives to put an end to the beast, and Fronsac is sent back in Paris. He realizes that the beast is actually an instrument of a secret society: The Brotherhood of the Wolf, which is working to undermine public confidence in the king and ultimately take over the country. Back in Gévaudan, the attacks by the real beast continue, and Fronsac returns to put an end to the beast's killings. At a secret rendezvous with Marianne, they are attacked by the beast, where it mysteriously refrains from attacking her. Fronsac, Mani, and a young Marquis set out into the forest and set up an array of traps to capture the beast; it is severely injured but escapes. Mani sets off alone in pursuit, where he finds a

catacomb Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...

used as the beast's holding pen, inhabited by the Brotherhood. Outnumbered, Mani is shot and killed. Fronsac discovers Mani's body and performs an

autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any d ...

, finding a silver bullet—Jean-François' signature choice of ammunition. In a fit of rage, a vengeful Fronsac goes to the catacombs and slaughters many members, but is overpowered by the local authorities and imprisoned. Sylvia visits him in jail and reveals that she is a spy for the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. She explains that Henri Sardis, the local priest and leader of the Brotherhood, believes that he is restoring worship of God to France.

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII ( la, Clemens XIII; it, Clemente XIII; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769 ...

has decided that Sardis is insane, and has sent her to eliminate him. She then poisons Fronsac, saying that he knows too much. Meanwhile, Jean-François comes to Marianne's room and reveals to her that he is the beast's master; it recognized his scent on her when it came near her, which is why it did not attack. He then rapes her when she rejects his advances. Sylvia's agents

exhume Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Fronsac, who had not been killed but merely put into a temporary

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

, and he appears at one of the Brotherhood's sermons. He kills several members, including Jean-François, who reveals that he had regained use of his supposedly mangled arm. Sardis escapes into the mountains, but is mauled to death by a pack of wolves. Fronsac and Marquis go to the beast's lair, where it lies severely wounded. It turns out that the beast was a lion that Jean-François brought back from Africa as a cub that was tortured into becoming vicious and trained to wear spiked metal armor. Fronsac takes pity and kills the beast in an act of mercy. Marquis finishes writing his account just before he is led to his execution by a revolutionary mob. He states that he doesn't know what happened to Fronsac and Marianne after the death of the beast; but he hopes that somewhere, they are happy together. A final scene shows Fronsac and Marianne sailing on a ship named Frère Loup—Brother Wolf.

Cast

as Knight Grégoire de Fronsac *

as Jean-François de Morangias *

as Marianne de Morangias * Monica Bellucci as Sylvia *

Jérémie Renier (; born 6 January 1981) is a Belgian actor. His film debut was in the critically praised (1996), directed by the Dardenne brothers. He became better known to worldwide audiences in ''Brotherhood of the Wolf'' (2001) and (2005). The latter ...

as Marquis Thomas d'Apcher **

Jacques Perrin Jacques Perrin (born Jacques André Simonet; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet. Early life Jacques André Simonet was born on the Boulevard Port-Royal in P ...

as older Thomas d'Apcher / Narrator *

as Mani * Jean Yanne as Count de Morangias *

Jean-François Stévenin Jean-François Stévenin (; 23 April 194427 July 2021) was a French actor and filmmaker. He appeared in 150 films and television shows since 1968. He starred in the film '' Cold Moon'', which was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Film ...

as Father Henri Sardis * Édith Scob as Countess Geneviève de Morangias *

Johan Leysen Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cann ...

as Antoine de Beauterne *

Bernard Farcy Bernard Farcy (born 17 March 1949) is a French actor who has starred in over 70 plays, television series and films. He is best known for his role as Gérard Gibert in Luc Besson's action-comedy franchise '' Taxi'', as well as his appearances in n ...

as Intendant Pièrre-Jean Laffont * Hans Meyer as Marquis d'Apcher * Philippe Nahon as Jean Chastel * Gaspard Ulliel as Louis *

Nicolas Vaude Nicolas Vaude (born 24 July 1962) is a French actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, rad ...

as Maxime des Forêts *Virginie Darmon as La Bavarde *Eric Prat as Captain Duhamel *Jean-Loup Wolff as Duke Gontrand de Moncan *

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' Codename: Kids Next Door'' ...

as Beast vocal effects

Reception

Critical reception

''Brotherhood of the Wolf'' garnered mostly positive reviews, with a 72% "Fresh" rating on

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 Wan ...

, based on 119 reviews with the consensus stating: "''Brotherhood of the Wolf'' mixes its genres with little logic, but the end result is wildly entertaining." whereas on

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 ...

it accumulated a score of 57 from mixed reviews. The usage of various cinematographic techniques employed by Christophe Gans, the fight sequences, the atmosphere and particularly the performance of Marc Dacascos as the native-American Mani attracted particularly strong praise.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' awarded it with a 3/4-star rating, writing: "I would be lying if I did not admit that this is all, in its absurd and overheated way, entertaining." James Berardinelli of ''

ReelViews James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

'' also rated the movie three stars out of four, saying that it "has something in it to appeal to just about everyone" and that it is "daring in its approach and successful in its result - assuming the result is to provide pure entertainment to the viewer." Michael Atkinson of ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' wrote "It's easily the most disarming and inventive movie made for genre geeks in years." Harry Knowles of ''

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...

'' wrote that this film is "exciting, alluring and thrilling", whereas ''Empire'' gave the film a three-star rating out of five stating that "An undeniably handsome creation, but its excessive length and surplus of directorial flourishes merely exacerbate the emptiness of an initially promising plot". Lisa from ''Variety'' gave a positive review mentioning that "a little Sergio Leone here, a little ''Sleepy Hollow'' there and, uh, martial arts-style confrontations are all deftly melded in ''Brotherhood of the Wolf'', an attempt to elucidate the French urban legend of the Beast of Gevaudan. This is a home-grown French actioner that wears its sincere desire to entertain on its flamboyantly tailored sleeve". The blend of various movie genres such as martial arts, mystery, costume drama and horror attracted certain amounts of criticism. In particular,

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' wrote "This new take on horror is more of the bloody same", whereas Stephen Hunter of ''The Washington Post'' said that it is "a mad agglomeration of styles and traditions that ultimately results in nothing so much as a mad agglomeration of styles and traditions", ultimately awarding the film a 0.5/4 score.

Box office

The film was one of the biggest box office hits for 2001 in France, grossing an estimated $24 million. The film also enjoyed commercial success in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

;

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

paid $2 million to acquire the film's North American distribution rights and went on to gross $11.3 million in

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

, making it the sixth-highest-grossing

film of all time in the United States (behind '' Amelie'', '' La Cage aux Folles'', '' Z'', ''

A Man and a Woman ''A Man and a Woman'' (french: Un homme et une femme) is a 1966 French film written and directed by Claude Lelouch and starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Written by Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven, the film concerns a young widow ...

'' and ''

Emmanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the main character in the novel '' Emmanuelle'' (1959), created by Emmanuelle Arsan. Character history Emmanuelle appeared as the pen name of Marayat Rollet-And ...

'' ). It was also number one at the Italian box office for two weeks. The film grossed $70 million in worldwide theatrical release. The film also did brisk video and DVD sales in the United States.

Alternate versions

There are three distinct and very different versions of the film: * The original French/US theatrical cut, running 143 minutes (sometimes listed as 142 minutes). * The UK cut, running 139 minutes, released on home video in the UK and Australia; in this version, all the scenes involving the Royal Hunter Beauterne are removed and some scenes from "Director's Cut" are added in. * The "Director's Cut", running 150 minutes (sometimes listed as 152 minutes), released on home video in France and Canada in 2002, and later in the US and other territories. In the United States, Universal Pictures originally released the 143 minute theatrical cut on DVD, on 1 October 2002.

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the U ...

released a two-disc, special-edition DVD containing the "Director's Cut" on 26 August 2008.

Awards

;Won *2001 Cabourg Romantic Film Festival: Best New Actress (

) *2001

Sitges Film Festival The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...

: Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver (

) *2002

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Mi ...

: Best Costume Design (Dominique Borg) *2003 Home Entertainment Awards (held by

Video Software Dealers Association The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $32 billion home entertainment industry. The Mission of EMA is to promote, to protect, and to ...

): Foreign Language Title of the Year (

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

) ;Nominations *2001

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

: Best Director (Audience Award)-(

) *2002

International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award (also known as the IHG Award) was an accolade recognizing excellence in the field of horror/dark fantasy, presented by the International Horror Guild (IHG) from 1995 to 2008. The IHG Awards were determined by ...

: Best Horror Film *2002

: Best Music Written for a Film ( Joseph LoDuca), Best Production Design (Guy-Claude François), Best Sound (Cyril Holtz and Jean-Paul Mugel). *2002

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

: Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, Best Costume (Dominique Borg), Best Director (

), Best Music ( Joseph LoDuca), Best Special Effects (Arthur Windus, Val Wardlaw, Hal Bertram, Nick Drew and Seb Caudron), Best Supporting Actor (

), Best Supporting Actress ( Monica Bellucci), Best Writing (Stéphane Cabel and

References

External links

Official French website
archived at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brotherhood Of The Wolf 2001 films 2001 horror films 2000s action films 2000s action thriller films 2000s historical action films French historical films French action horror films 2000s French-language films 2000s German-language films 2000s Italian-language films Films directed by Christophe Gans Horror films based on actual events Films about secret societies Films set in 1764 Films set in the 1780s Films set in France Films shot in France French Revolution films Films about hunters Martial arts films 2000s monster movies Incest in film Films about rape Films about wolves StudioCanal films Universal Pictures films 2000s French films