Cheri

First published on 23 Jul 2009. Updated on 23 Jul 2009.

Michelle Pfeiffer lifts her slender arms into the air and gazes into a mirror. "Such lovely handles," she muses, "for such an old vase." And it's true that La Pfeiffer has aged beautifully. It's 21 years since Stephen Frears cast her as an ingénue in Dangerous Liaisons and her translucent beauty continues to shine in the role of the ageing courtesan Léa in Frears' Chéri. Based on a novel by Colette, the new film depicts the amorality of French society in the early 20th century, when smart young women who had amassed vast fortunes pimping themselves out to rich, older admirers were able to spend their later years living like empresses and amusing themselves with pretty young men.    

One such former courtesan, Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates), is concerned that her hedonistic 19-year-old son Chéri (Rupert Friend) needs some tutoring in life and appoints her fabulously wealthy friend Léa (Pfeiffer) to the task. Sparks fly, and rakish youth and older woman two spend six deliriously happy years together. But Mme Peloux still intends that her son marry, arranging a union with Edmée (Felicity Jones), the daughter of another courtesan. Unable to recognise that they're on a good thing, Chéri and Léa agree, disastrously, to part.

It's amazing to consider the differences in attitudes to sex between Edwardian England and belle époque France - buttoned-up and unspoken on one side of the Channel, openly exploited on the other. Yet both can prove barren soil for love, and Chéri depicts a class of pleasure-seekers so pampered they've failed to acquire any common sense about matters of the heart.

As the eponymous Chéri, English actor Friend is a sad young Adonis with a mop of dark hair, alabaster skin and cheekbones as sharp as Pfeiffer's. (When they kiss, it's like scissors snipping.) They're both attired in simply extraordinary costumes designed by Consalata Boyle. Alan MacDonald's sets are equally ravishing; I don't recall seeing such a dazzling representation of the Art Nouveau era on screen. Remember Boyle and MacDonald's names: you'll be hearing them a lot when awards season comes around. Nick Dent