Director Cathérine Breillat folds two fairy tales into another, one of her own design and the classic narrative theme Barbe Bleue (King Blue-beard). I guess she deliberately renders the performances and sets artificial and hollow. This is for example clearly indicated in the tower stairs scene, where the same part of the spiral stairs is shown over and over again to give the impression of a high tower but there are distinctive parts showing it's always the same. As if this wasn't already clear enough, at one point she needlessly lets the image flip to show its cut. I interpret this as a cryptic reflection of narrative tradition where she blends the image of the girl devouring King Blue beard into a new image of the girl's courage and fearless endeavor. Hence Lola Creton is the only one who seems to be allowed to give a glowing performance and so she does. A difficult film, but worth a watch if anything of the above made sense to you or you know and like Breillat's unconventional work.
