OVID.tv Presents FALSE CONFESSIONS Film Review – Engineering Love

Posted on by Nomin Altansukh

We are the proverbial fly on the wall, knowing more about what’s happening than the characters living the story...

A young woman named Marton plays on the sleek black piano filling the room with angelic music. The melody is befitting of the elegant room with its high ceiling supported by tall columns and decorated with classical marble statues. The space is brightly lit by a gilded chandelier. An elderly man, Remy, enters the frame interrupting Marton to tell her that his nephew, Dorante, has a crush on her. Noticing the tall young man across the room she blushes at the sight of him. Her expression clearly indicates her taking a liking to him.  When the camera switches from her loving gaze to focus instead on Dorante’s face, we see his look of total indifference.

What we know--but the innocent and hopelessly romantic Marton does not-- is that Dorante is not passionately in love with her, but rather with their employer Araminte, a wealthy widow presumably out of Dorante’s class reach. While Marton-- ever primed in her passion by Uncle Remy’s lies--pursues Dorante, he enlists the help of the mansion’s well-named butler, Dubious, to win the widow’s heart. Add to this mix of schemers, the widow’s overbearing mother, and an intrusive Count who also is a would-be suitor for the wealthy widow. 

A palace intrigue plot thickening unfolds—all happening in the light and airy romantic atmosphere of Araminte’s mansion. The comedic ribbon running throughout the story are the False Confessions of the title--- the lies meddlers and the meddled alike tell to hide their true motivations or feelings.

OVID.tv’s FALSE CONFESSIONS Maintains Theatricality

Sound like a classic farce?  

It was and is!  We learn from OVIDtv’s film synopsis that this is an adaptation of an early 18th Century play by Marivaux of the same name, transported to 21st Century Paris. The film includes stage actors and was filmed in part on-site at the Théâtre de l’Odéon. False Confessions maintains the original medium’s dramatism in this writer’s opinion, delivering an engaging and colorful narrative. The characters' interactions with one another build a multi-layered plotline that are farcical and have a comedic tone, albeit with some serious moments when the winners and losers of love meddling are revealed.

False Confessions is recommended to fans of play adaptations and those who enjoy dramatic romance films. 

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CAST:
Isabelle Huppert as Araminte
Louis Garrell as Dorante
Bulle Ogier as Araminte’s mother
Yves Jacques as Dubois
Manon Combes as Marton
Jean-Pierre Malo as Count

 

CREATIVE TEAM:
Director: Luc Bondy

To watch the film, visit the OVID.tv page for FALSE CONFESSIONS

Images courtesy of OVID.tv

 

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