DIARY OF A SEDUCER Movie Review

Le Journal du Seducteur
The Seducer's Diary

When a mysterious Parisian student loans Claire (Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Marcello and Catherine Deneuve) a rare copy of a novel called Diary of a Seducer, she falls hopelessly in love with him. Her realization that the book possesses the uncanny power of an aphrodisiac leads to a bizarre and rather unexpected web of desire, as the book is passed from one reader to another. Director Daniele Dubroux came from a background in film criticism, and if her generally engrossing tale of obsession and sexual manipulation has a flaw, it may be that she's been a bit too dryly analytical in structuring the action. Still, this is a clever, gloomy little dark comedy about the male capacity for compartmentalizing passion. It has an appropriately bitter aftertaste, and a wonderfully understated performance from Chiara Mastroianni.

NEXT STOP … La Discrete, Rendezvous in Paris, Captain's Paradise

1995 98m/C FR Danielle Dubroux, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Mathieu Amalric, Micheline Presle, Hubert Saint Macary, Jean-Pierre Leaud; D: Danielle Dubroux; W: Danielle Dubroux; C: Laurent Machuel; M: Jean-Marie Senia. VHS, Letterbox FXL, FCT