I missed SFIFF’s opening night party (it was my beloved's birthday), but truth be told, I don't think I'd want to be in the same room with nutcase director Catherine Breillat for any length of time. I usually like crackpot directors who air their personal problems through cinema, but Breillat just doesn't do it for me. Perhaps it's because she purports to analyze her own troubles, rather than just showing them.

I did, however, see the opening night film, The Last Mistress, and of the three Breillat films I've seen, I like it best. It's a relatively normal affair, although a shot of Asia Argento licking the gunshot wounds of her beloved and emerging bloodied and screaming may evoke earlier Breillat works.

Blood-licking Asia Argento (seen here in The Last Mistress) has a lot of fans at this year's fest

Argento stars as Vellini, the longtime mistress of Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou). After Ryno breaks up with her to marry blonde Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), on the eve of his wedding he decides to come clean and narrate his entire illicit history to Hermangarde's grandmother, Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute). Sarraute gives a delightful performance, draping her leg over one side of a chair while eagerly listening to the lecherous tale. But Vellini's lusty clutches may still be too much for Ryno -- marriage vows obviously didn't mean much when Vellini was married and Ryno pursued her.

Believe it or not, Breillat paints a vivid and affecting portrait of unhealthy, irresistible sexual obsession, sprinkling it with observations from proper society folks. However, I'd bet that most of the movie's success comes from Argento's potent presence, rather than anything Breillat contributed -- or held back. Argento is at her best, a lithe creature closer to a jungle cat than a proper lady.