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Brotherhood of the Wolf

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This article is about a French film. For the book by David Farland, see Brotherhood of the Wolf (novel).
Brotherhood of the Wolf
File:Brotherhood of the wolf.jpg
United States poster
Directed byChristophe Gans
Written byChristophe Gans
Stéphane Cabel.
Produced byRichard Grandpierre
Samuel Hadida
StarringSamuel Le Bihan
Vincent Cassel
Émilie Dequenne
Monica Bellucci
Jérémie Renier
Mark Dacascos
CinematographyDan Laustsen
Edited byDavid Wu
Sébastien Prangère
Xavier Loutreuil
Music byJoseph LoDuca
Distributed byUniversal Pictures (USA)
TVA Films(Canada)
United International Pictures (Australia)
StudioCanal(international sales)
Release dates
France 31 January 2001 (France)
United States 11 January, 2002 (USA)
Running time
142 mins
152 minutes (DVD director's cut)
CountryFrance
LanguagesFrench
German (a few words)
Italian (a few words)
Occitan (a few words)
Budget$29,000,000 [1]
Box office$70,752,904 (worldwide) [2]

Brotherhood of the Wolf, also known by its French title Le Pacte des loups (literally "The Pact of the Wolves"), is a 2001 French movie directed by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Émilie Dequenne and Mark Dacascos, and written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel.

The film is loosely based on a real-life series of killings that took place in France in the 18th century and on the famous legend around the Beast of Gévaudan. Parts of the movie were filmed at Château de Roquetaillade.

Being a historical/drama/horror movie, it has anachronistic martial arts fight sequences; it also contains elements of erotica, mystery and fantasy.

This $29 million-budgeted film was an international box office success, grossing over $70 million in theaters worldwide.[3] In the United States, this film also enjoyed commercial success; Universal Pictures paid $2 million to acquire the film's United States distribution rights [4] and this film went on grossing $10.9 million in limited theatrical release in the United States, making it the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades (this film also did brisk video and DVD sales in the United States).[1]

Plot

The movie begins during the French Revolution with the aged Marquis d'Apcher (Jacques Perrin) as the narrator, writing his memoirs in a castle, while the voices of a mob can be heard from outside. The film flashes back to the mid 1760s when a mysterious beast terrorized the province of Gévaudan and nearby lands.

Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), a knight and the royal taxidermist of King Louis XV of France, and his Native American companion Mani (Dacascos), an Iroquois, arrive in Gévaudan to capture the beast. Upon arrival, they rescue an aged healer and his daughter from an attack by soldiers. The young and enlightened Thomas, Marquis d'Apcher (Jérémie Renier), befriends them and assists their investigation.

Fronsac is initially skeptical about the beast's existence, since survivors describe it as much larger than any wolf he has ever seen. However, by studying the bite size on a victim of the beast, he deduces that it must weigh roughly 500 pounds. Captain Duhamel (Eric Prat), an army officer leading the hunt for the beast, has killed dozens of ordinary wolves, but has not come close to the actual killer.

While staying in Gévaudan, Fronsac romances Marianne de Morangias (Émilie Dequenne), the daughter of a local count, whose brother, Jean-François (Cassel), was also an avid hunter and a world traveler, before losing one arm to a lion in Africa. Fronsac is also intrigued by Sylvia (Bellucci), an Italian courtesan at the local brothel.

While investigating another victim, Fronsac finds a fang made of steel, and his doubts of the Beast's existence thicken. Another witness swears that the Beast is controlled by a human master. Fronsac studies the patterns of the attacks and victims, trying to find a common thread and reveal a murderer. As the investigation proves to be unfruitful, the king's weapons master, Lord de Beauterne (Johan Leysen), arrives to put an end to the Beast. But instead of doing so, Beauterne kills an ordinary wolf and tells Fronsac to alter the corpse so it resembles the monster accordingly. Fronsac does so, and the bogus wolf is sent back to Paris, where it is put on display, much to the pleasure of the king and the French aristocracy.

File:Pacte des Loupes 01.jpg
The Beast and its Master

In Paris, the king’s advisor shows Fronsac a copy of a book titled L'Édifiante ["The Edifying"] with treasonous theories, stating the Beast has come to punish the King of France for his indulgence of the philosophers, and that the modern embracement of science over religion is heresy. Fronsac realizes that the Beast is an instrument of a secret society, The Brotherhood of the Wolf, working to undermine public confidence in the king and ultimately take over the country.

Fronsac is told that "officially" the Beast is dead, warned to keep his mouth shut, and bribed with an appointment to travel to Senegal. Back in Gévaudan, the attacks by the real Beast continue.

Ignoring his orders, Fronsac returns to Gévaudan, determined to put an end to the Beast's killings, and also to take Marianne away. Upon his return, the monster attacks and he sees it with his own eyes. It kills a man, but mysteriously refrains from attacking Marianne.

Fronsac, Mani, and the Marquis set out into the forest and set up an array of traps to capture the Beast, but it proves to be too powerful and intelligent to be captured by anything they can set up. After a violent encounter, Mani sets off solo in pursuit, where he finds a catacomb used as the Beast's holding pen, inhabited by the Brotherhood and a band of Gypsies working with them. These include, ironically, the elderly veterinarian, the Beast's tender, and his daughter, whom Mani saved. Outnumbered and distracted by the daughter, Mani is shot in the back, overwhelmed and killed.

Fronsac is broken when he discovers his best friend has been murdered. Performing an autopsy, he finds a silver bullet, Jean-François's signature weapon. In a fit of rage he goes to the catacombs and seeks revenge, finding a pile of copies of L'Édifiante. He kills many of the Gypsies and discovers the Beast's lair before leaving so that he can burn Mani's body at dawn. After collecting Mani's ashes, he is then overpowered by the local authorities and imprisoned. Sylvia visits him in jail and reveals to him that she is a spy for the Vatican. The local priest, Henri Sardis (Jean-François Stévenin), is the leader of the Brotherhood, believing that he is restoring worship of God to France. Pope Clement XIII has decided that Sardis is insane, and sent her to eliminate him. She then poisons Fronsac, telling him he knows too much.

Fronsac is presumed dead, and buried, when in fact Sylvia's poison has only put him into a temporary coma. Henri Sardis wants to kill Marianne, and he persudes Jean-François to do so(as a way to combat his incestuous lust for his sister). Jean-François comes to Marianne's room and reveal to her that he is the Beast's master; it recognized his scent when it came near her, which is why it did not attack. Jean-François then rapes and nearly kills Marianne.

Sylvia's agents exhume Fronsac and he appears at one of the Brotherhood’s secret sermons. In the climactic battle, he kills several Gypsies, and duels Jean-François to the death. The other members of the Brotherhood attempt to flee, but are rounded up and arrested by Captain Duhamel and his men. Sylvia personally kills the Gypsy veterinarian's daughter. Sardis escapes into the mountains, but is mauled to death by a pack of wolves, in an example of poetic justice.

Fronsac attempts to heal Marianne with a potion carried by Mani. He and the marquis Thomas go to the Beast's lair, where it lies grievously wounded after the fight in the forest. It turns out the Beast was an offspring of a "strange beast" that Jean-François brought back from Africa (which director Christophe Gans insists is a lion[2]). It was tortured into becoming vicious, trained to attack humans, and dressed in metal armor along with metal implants in its jaw to make it more formidable and frightening. Fronsac performs a mercy killing on the Beast.

The film then returns to the opening time period of the French Revolution. The now-elderly Marquis d'Apcher finishes writing his account of the killings, just before he is led to his execution by a revolutionary mob.

In the final scene, the marquis has a flashback, in which he narrates that he does not know what happened to Fronsac and Marianne but he hopes that somewhere, they are happy together. Fronsac is shown traveling to Senegal with Marianne to start a new life together, scattering Mani’s ashes at sea. It is left unstated whether the two are alive and happy or, whether this is indeed the marquis' dream.

Cast

Critics' reception in the United States

File:Le Pacte Des Loups.jpg
French teaser poster

Brotherhood of The Wolf garnered mostly positive reviews, with a 71% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[3] Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times wrote that this film is "entertaining"[5]. Michael Atkinson of Village Voice wrote "It's easily the most disarming and inventive movie made for genre geeks in years"[6]. Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News wrote that this film is "exciting, alluring and thrilling"[7].

Awards

Won

Nominations

Titles

  • Argentina: Pacto de Lobos (Pact of Wolves)
  • Brazil: O Pacto dos Lobos (The Pact of the Wolves)
  • Croatia: Vučje Bratstvo (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
  • Czech Republic: Bratrstvo vlků - Hon na bestii
  • Denmark: Pagten
  • Estonia: Hundi Vennaskond
  • Finland: Susien Klaani
  • Germany: Der Pakt der Wölfe (The Pact of the Wolves)
  • Greece: H Aδελφότητα Των Λύκων (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
  • Hungary: Farkasok szövetsége
  • Israel "Akhvat Ha-Ze'evim" "אחוות הזאבים" (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
  • Italy: Il Patto dei Lupi (The Pact of the Wolves)
  • Mexico: Pacto con Lobos (Pact with Wolves)
  • Norway: Ulvenes klan
  • Poland: Braterstwo Wilków (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
  • Romania: Frăţia lupilor
  • Russia: Братство волка (Brotherhood of the Wolf)
  • Serbia: Pakt Sa Vukovima (The Pact with the Wolves)
  • Spain: El Pacto de los Lobos (The Pact of the Wolves)
  • Sweden: Vargarnas pakt
  • Turkey: Kurtların Kardeşliği (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
  • UK: Brotherhood of the Wolf
  • USA: Brotherhood of the Wolf

References

  1. ^ "Little pictures have a big year", Los Angeles Times, 3 January 2003
  2. ^ Ain't It Cool News Euro-AICN Special: An Interview with BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLVES director Christophe Gans from the Paris Underground.
  3. ^ Rottentomatoes.com, retrieved May 6, 2008


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