Word: vellini
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...Ryno de Marigny (newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou) is a famous reprobate who's about to marry the innocent aristocrat Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida) but, reputedly, hasn't shaken off the allure of his Spanish mistress Vellini (Asia Argento). The film is mostly a flashback relating their affair. Like many movies once upon a time, and few today, An Old Mistress approaches romantic passion with a voluptuous seriousness. The Cannes audience giggled at some of the more intense scenes - as when Ryno has a bullet removed from his chest and Vellini avidly licks the wound. To each his own eroticism...
...pairing of the lovers. Argento is one of those severe, strong-featured women who exhales the toxic sexuality of a vixen painted by Goya. Aattou is a luscious, full-lipped, smooth-bodied satyr who could be Argento's prettier, more feminine twin. No wonder Ryno can't shake off Vellini's spell - she is his more volcanic, dominant half. The film may be more seductive than it is plausible, and it's not Breillat's most engaging work (that would be Fat Girl and its funnier remake, Sex Is Comedy). But this filmmaker's train of erotic thought is always...
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