Le Nouveau Raz-de-Marée - A New Movement in French Cinema?
Shannon O’Riordan
---- Mademoiselle de Joncquières (Lady J) ----
GENRE: Period Drama
FAVOURITE QUOTE: « L’amour, quand il est mêlé à la chair, devient aussi fragile que celle-ci, un rien l'abîme »
FAVOURITE SCENE: I’m afraid to say that no single scene jumped out to me in this one… although if I had to choose, there is a very nice scene that involves two chairs and a lake (I shall say no more - but it’s not as bizarre as it sounds!)
FILMS IT MIGHT REMIND YOU OF: Think of it as a slower-paced, more dramatic version of something like Sense and Sensibility, or Pride and Prejudice
RATING: * * * * * * (3/6)
Credit: Mademoiselle de Joncquières. Directed by Emmanuel Mouret, performances by Cécile De France, Édouard Baer, Alice Isaaz, 2019. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81024044?source=35
Mademoiselle de Joncquières
Column III
Over the past month I, along with what appears to be the rest of the world, have very much fallen into the trap of what I like to call ‘Bridgerton-fever’. A (problematic) love story, tense familial and societal relationships, gorgeous Regency outfits, humour and a side of mystery - what more could you want? The fact I enjoyed this show so much does not necessarily come as a surprise to me as I have always been fond of period dramas - there is just something about them that manages to arouse feelings of nostalgia in me (which is weird, considering I am in fact not a ghost from the 18th century) and leave me waiting for my own young Hugh Grant to come and (hopefully literally) sweep me off my feet.
Now that I’ve revealed my rather guilty pleasure of enjoying this genre, it will come as no surprise to you that I often spend my evenings scrolling through Netflix, hunting for new films and series that will fill the gap that the Bridgerton brothers have left in my heart. So you can imagine my joy when I found out that the Netflix gods heard my prayers and blessed the site with not just a new period drama, but a French one: Mademoiselle de Joncquières (Lady J).
If you have read my last two articles (which, if you haven’t, go do it now!), you might be under the impression that I am a pretty easy-to-please viewer and, generally, I would say that you would be right: after most films I feel, at the very least, pleasantly entertained. After watching this film, however, I did not feel that. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I watched a film and thought so strongly, “I am not enjoying this”. For this reason, this review might seem slightly more scathing than my previous ones and, although I am certainly no Lady Whistledown, it might cause a little stir.
After watching the film, I worked my way through a few French reviews of it, and they all appear to have a much more positive view of this film than I do. Given the style of film, I don’t think this is a surprise - I highly suspect that there is a significant cultural gap which a single viewing of one French period drama is not going to resolve. I would therefore encourage my readers to take this review in particular with a pinch of salt - I plan to rewatch this film in the future to give it a second chance, and to explore other French period dramas in order to expand my awareness of the style of this genre in France.
Credit: Mademoiselle de Joncquières. Directed by Emmanuel Mouret, performances by Cécile De France, Édouard Baer, Alice Isaaz, 2019. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81024044?source=35
Madame de la Pommeraye and the Marquis
With that disclaimer out of the way, on with the show! As usual, I will begin with a quick summary of the film. Based on a story from Denis Diderot’s novel Jacques the Fatalist, Mademoiselle de Joncquières is a classic Regency period drama, set during the reign of Louis XV. The main character, Madame de La Pommeraye (Cécile de France) is a wealthy widow living in her countryside estate, who is being courted by her long-term houseguest, the Marquis de Arcis (Édouard Baer). Over a period of what appears to be a few months, Madame de La Pommeraye falls for the Marquis, only to be left disappointed by his refusal to commit to her. What then follows is a revenge plot, which Madame de La Pommeraye leads, using Madame de Joncquières (Natalia Dontcheva), a once-respectable local sex worker, and her beautiful daughter, Mademoiselle de Joncquières (Alice Isaaz), to trick the Marquis into feeling the abandonment she felt. But not everything appears to go to the original plan…
I must admit that Mademoiselle de Joncquières gets the ‘period’ part of ‘period drama’ pretty spot on. The women are dressed wonderfully and, I would say, authentically, with their hair tied up in intricate knots, a light flush of blush on their cheeks and massive, flowy skirts which I am very envious of. The setting of the film is similarly spectacular, and the viewer truly feels like they are being brought into 18th century French society. The language used throughout also feels pretty historically accurate: there is no tutoiement in sight, and the passé simple is even used out loud a few times, which threw me off a bit at the beginning. When topped off with a few promenades through the coiffured fields, you feel well and truly immersed in the period.
This, however, is where my praise of the film ends and I hope to justify my reasons as to why. I’ll start with the overall style of the film which, as I wrote in my notes whilst I was watching the film, is “bizarre”. The thing that hit me first was that there is a very small core group of characters, very few extras, and the film is intensely dialogue-heavy. Usually, this is not something that I consider to be a ‘problem’ and it would be an exaggeration to say that it is ‘wrong’ in this film, but it is a very distinctive style that I personally don’t think works with this plot. The intense dialogue, when paired with some very long scenes (in French these are called ‘longs plans-séquences’), led to moments where I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking “how much longer is this going to last?” (hint: a long time - the film is nearly 2 hours long!). I am embarrassed to say that I even put it on 1.5x speed at some points, just to get through a couple of the particularly excruciatingly long scenes.
Credit: Mademoiselle de Joncquières. Directed by Emmanuel Mouret, performances by Cécile De France, Édouard Baer, Alice Isaaz, 2019. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81024044?source=35
The Happy Couple... for now
This ties in directly to my other main point: the pace of the film feels all wrong. For example, the first thirty minutes are entirely dedicated to exploring the relationship between the Marquis and Madame de La Pommeraye which should be a good thing, right? In this case, no. Such an exploration of their relationship is necessary to set up the rest of the plot (i.e. the section of the film in which things actually happen) but I definitely don’t think it needs the whole half-hour. Then, just as you think the plot is actually going somewhere, there is another ‘development stage’, and this just irrationally irritated me to no end. Then suddenly, with less than half an hour to go, the pace increases and everything starts happening. It almost feels like they were trying to use a Parasite-style plot twist but that this (quite predictable, and pretty small) twist came about an hour too late, by which point I had all but lost interest. Ironically, these last twenty minutes of the film were the ones I enjoyed the most!
Nevertheless, to end this article on a more positive note, I shall say this: despite how it may seem, I did not hate this film! There were moments when I had a little giggle to myself, or felt sympathy for the characters, and I did find that the plot had just enough tension and mystery to keep me engaged (although only just). In summary then, this film is definitely not something that I would choose to watch over Sense and Sensibility or another Austen classic, but if you too are craving a little bit of period drama action to tide you over until Bridgerton Season 2, I would still recommend that you give it a chance.