Les Bien-Aimes (2011)

Synopsis of Les Bien-Aimes

A mother and daughter follow similar paths with different results in this drama from writer and director Christophe Honore. In 1964, Madeleine (Ludivine Sagnier) is a restless young woman working at a shoe store who, after helping herself to a new pair of high heels, is mistaken for a streetwalker by a man passing by. Madeleine impulsively decides to go along with the stranger's assumptions, and is soon making her living as a high class prostitute. One of her regular customers is a handsome doctor named Jaromil (Rasha Bukvic), and when he asks for her hand in marriage, she accepts. They settle in his native Czechoslovakia and have a daughter, Vera. Years later, Vera (Chiara Mastroianni) looks back on the story of her mother and father (played in their later years by Catherine Deneuve and Milos Forman) with an viewpoint colored by both romanticism and regret; while Madeleine's life as a streetwalker was full of adventure and brought her love, Vera has grown up in an era where AIDS has made prostitution a bit like Russian Roulette, and she's unable to commit to a relationship, tossing aside her on-and-off boyfriend Clement (Louis Garrel) in favor of obsessing over Henderson (Paul Schneider), a musician who prefers the company of men. Les Bien-aimes (aka Beloved) was an official selection at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director(s):

Christophe Honoré

Writer(s):

Christophe Honoré

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