Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
French drama about infidelity and passion has nudity.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Lady J
What's the Story?
LADY J of the title is an unfortunate born of two unmarried aristocrats who educate her to be a lady but abandon her. When another aristocrat is attracted to her beauty and grace, he fakes a marriage and leaves her with a daughter. Shunned from society, the two turn to prostitution and become an amusing anecdote among Paris society. The story returns to the wealthy and widowed Marquise de Pommeraye (Cecile de France) after she herself is betrayed by a well-known seducer, Marquis des Arcis (Edouard Baer). The Marquis is charming and bright, with a penchant for beautiful women who resist him. He pours that charm on the uninterested Pommeraye for six months before she succumbs. Predictably, he tires of her, but she's devastated by the loss. Pretending it is she who has fallen out of love in order to elicit his honest admission that his passion has faded, she summons Lady J (Natalia Dontcheva) and her ethereal daughter (Alice Isaaz) and conceives a plot that will free them from their seedy lives by hooking the unsuspecting Marquis on the beautiful daughter and opening him to ridicule in society.
Is It Any Good?
The story cleverly turns on its head the idea that a libertine who takes advantage of women should, in the name of wronged women everywhere, fairly be dealt a well-deserved comeuppance. Pommeraye's ingenious plot plays out in masterly fashion, with Lady J and her daughter performing perfectly, but the perfection starts to cause unease in those rooting for her. She becomes a bit too mean for comfort. Perhaps scoundrels like the Marquis deserve punishment, but viewers may like Pommeraye less as she relishes the pain and destruction she causes, and that will provide interested teens with plenty to discuss.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why the Marquise needs so badly to bring pain to someone she once loved. Do you think this demonstrates how closely love and hatred can be linked?
Does the scenario the Marquise plans in Lady J seem believable? Why or why not?
Although the Marquise first seems to promise a better life to her co-conspirators, she soon seems willing to hurt them as much as she hurts the Marquis. Does this change your opinion of her? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : March 8, 2019
- Cast : Cecile De France , Édouard Baer , Alice Isaaz , Natalia Dontcheva
- Director : Emmanuel Mouret
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 110 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : July 31, 2022
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