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'The Last Mistress'

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BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

June 27, 2008

Variously described as an "ugly mutt," "the goddess of capriciousness" and a woman who can "outstare the sun," the Spanish firestorm known as La Vellini - the dark center of Catherine Breillat's enthralling period piece "The Last Mistress" - probably could have been played by no one but Asia Argento. Growling with hatred, chomping on a cigar and braying like a horse in heat, Argento turns what could have been a mannered French melodrama into a riveting, roiling, thoroughly entertaining film. Think "Dangerous Liaisons" with less foppery and more sloppy, sweaty sex.

Argento, the daughter of the Italian horror-meister Dario Argento, has some help here. As Ryno de Marigny, her disreputable young lover, the newcomer Fu'ad Aït Aattou is not only blindingly beautiful but also a fine, sensitive actor. Roxane Mesquida (of Breillat's "Fat Girl"), playing Ryno's respectable fiancee, conveys purity and naivete with hardly a word. And Breillat, an unorthodox but supremely confident director, avoids the usual costume-drama tricks, filming her characters in broad daylight and often outdoors, making each scene feel alive and real.

Though filled with down-and-dirty lovemaking and harrowing psychodrama, "The Last Mistress" makes its final point with a casual observation, uttered during a carriage ride. Simple and understated, it's the opposite of Argento's gutsy, wild performance. But the result is the same: It's devastating.

(unrated)

PLOT A handsome young libertine must choose between his innocent fiancee and a lusty former flame.

CAST Asia Argento, Fu’ad Aït Aattou, Claude Sarraute

LENGTH 1:54

PLAYING AT Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and IFC Center, Manhattan. Coming next month to Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington

BOTTOM LINE Argento is a revelation in a French period piece that’s finely filmed but also likes to dirty its skirts.