DON'T TOUCH THE AXE
aka NE TOUCHEZ PAS LA HACHE

Year: 2007
UK: Artificial Eye
Cast: Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Barbet Schroeder, Anne Cantineau, Mathias Jung, Julie Judd, Marc Barbe, Nicolas Bouchaud, Thomas Durand, Beppe Chierici, Victoria Zinny, Remo Girone, Paul Chevillard
Director: Jacques Rivette
Country: France
Language: French (English subtitles)
UK: 138 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains mild sex references
UK Release Date: 28 December 2007 (Limited Release - London and Norwich)
UK Distributor

Synopsis

It takes five years of searching for the handsome, young, general Armand de Montriveau to find the woman he fell madly in love with at the balls of 1820s Restoration Paris, where hypocrisy and vanity reigned. He eventually finds Antoinette, the Duchess of Langeais, living chastely in a Majorcan convent...

Flattered by his attentions, the alluring Antoinette devises a calculating game of seduction, but always refuses Montriveau's sincere romantic declarations. When the humiliated Montriveau eventually seeks his revenge, Antoinette's love awakens. But it may well be too late for the star-crossed lovers.