receives a 1, instead of a -0- due to the quality of the actors. the amazingly beautiful Isabelle Adjani as Ellenore, an incredibly boring, one-dimensional, stupid woman. Stanislas Merhar, who delivers an incredibly un-nuanced performance as the moronic "Adolphe". the usually always wonderful Jean Yanne in a wasted performance as The Count. Romain Duris, as usual, an excellent performance as the effeminate D'Efeuil; and the fabulous Jacquot muse, Islid Le Besco as a wasted bit player, La Lingerie. i spend time on the actors because of the incredibly UNtalented directorship of M. Jacquot! where his reputation comes from is a huge question mark? however, he does have the unique talent of both selecting very unteresting topics, then making each of his movies very very boring, droll, and worst of all, he simply does NOT know how to tell a story in a way that "doesn't" put the viewer to sleep; OR, he thinks of himself as a genius and selects subjects, (only) he believes, will be of interest to the viewer. after having seen, actually wasting time, 3 of his movies at a Benoit Jacquot festival at Lincoln Center, NYC June-July 2006, i can unequvically say, he may be the worst director, or the most boring, of the last 35 yrs!!! it's a shame, so many fine actors have been gulled to appear in his odious interpretations, & hopefully, he will retire, left to watch his own boring work, which should easily put even him to sleep, as most of the audience in attendance at this "Festival" were?!
