Le pacte des loups

Plot synopsis:
The film begins during the French Revolution, with the aged Marquis d'Apcher 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 1764, when a mysterious beast terrorized the province of Gévaudan and nearby lands.
Grégoire de Fronsac, a knight and the royal naturalist of King Louis XV of France, and his Iroquois companion Mani, arrive in Gévaudan to capture the beast. Upon arrival, they rescue Jean Chastel, an aged healer, and his daughter La Bavarde from an attack by soldiers. The young and enlightened Thomas—Marquis d'Apcher—later befriends the two outsiders.
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 lb (227 kg). Captain Duhamel, 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, the daughter of a local count, whose brother, Jean-François, was also an avid hunter and a world traveler, before losing one arm to a lion in Africa. Fronsac is also intrigued by Sylvia, an Italian courtesan at the local brothel.
While investigating another victim, Fronsac finds a fang made of steel, which increases his doubts of the beast's existence. 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, arrives to put an end to the beast. However, instead of doing so, Beauterne kills an ordinary wolf and tells Fronsac to alter the corpse so it resembles the monster accordingly. Fronsac hesitantly 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.
In Paris, the king's advisor shows Fronsac a copy of a book titled L'Édifiante (French for "The Edifying"). Within the book are treasonous theories, such as that the beast has come to punish the King of France for his indulgence of the philosophers, and that the modern embrace of science over religion is heresy. Fronsac realizes that the beast is actually an instrument of a secret society: The Brotherhood of the Wolf, which is 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 stay silent, 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, he finally sees the beast 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 any plan they make. After a violent encounter, Mani sets off alone, 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 Chastel, the beast's tender, and his daughter, whom Mani saved. Outnumbered and distracted by Chastel's daughter, Mani is shot in the back, overwhelmed and killed, but not before slaughtering a number of his attackers.
Fronsac is devastated when he discovers his best friend has been murdered. Performing an autopsy on Mani's body, he finds a silver bullet—Jean-François' signature choice of ammunition. In a fit of rage, a vengeful Fronsac goes to the catacombs, 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 overpowered by the local authorities and imprisoned. Sylvia visits him in jail and reveals to him that she is a spy for the Vatican. She explains that Henri Sardis, the local priest and leader of the Brotherhood, believes 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.
Henri Sardis decides to kill Marianne, and he persuades Jean-François to do so as a way to combat his incestuous lust for his sister. Jean-François comes to Marianne's room and reveals to her that he is the beast's master; it recognized his scent on her when it came near her, which is why it did not attack. He also reveals that his right arm is in fact intact, albeit badly scarred, and he has kept it hidden (his arm is seen stroking the beast earlier in the film). Jean-François then rapes and nearly kills Marianne.
Sylvia's agents exhume Fronsac, who had not been killed but merely put into a temporary coma, and he appears at one of the Brotherhood's secret sermons. In the resulting climactic battle, he kills several Gypsies and duels Jean-François to the death. The other members of the Brotherhood attempt to flee, but they are corralled and arrested by Captain Duhamel and his men. Sylvia, meanwhile, personally kills Chastel's daughter. Sardis escapes into the mountains, but is mauled to death by a pack of wolves (their leader being the same wolf that survived the previous slaughter, and was seen chasing the beast with its pack and seemingly bonded at a spiritual level with Mani).
Fronsac attempts to heal Marianne with a potion previously carried by Mani. He and the Marquis then go to the beast's lair, where Chastel is tending to it as 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 verifies is a lion). It was tortured into becoming vicious, trained to attack humans, and dressed in metal armor plating and spikes along with a large mask and metal implants in its jaw to make it more formidable and frightening. Fronsac takes pity on the dying creature and kills the beast in an act of mercy.
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.

Tags: gothic, murder, violence, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, action, tragedy

Review:
Indeed one shot where the creature stalks out of the fog behind the hero has to be amongst the most effective CGI work in film.Cinematically this is some of the best work of late; it bears many resemblences to Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' - luscious slow character-forming scenes mixed in with frantic camera work for the action scenes.
A good deal of the film is lit by candle or fire light, filling the screen with warm oranges and flesh tones (and the movie *never* misses a chance to show lots of flesh).In contrast the exterior shots are frequently chill blues and washed out hues, making the French countryside look like a hostile world that could conceal all forms of dark secrets.
For those people who think French cinema involves two middle aged peasants smoking Gauloises whilst arguing about the finer points of philosophy this film will come as a revelation.At 140 minutes perhaps the movie runs a little too long and there are one too many plot twists (there is one near the end that is VERY difficult to accept, but just wince and accept it), but it doesn't outstay its welcome.For the English-speaking market the film has been subtitled.
Candle-lit interior cinematography, lush misty landscapes, strong characters, exquisite costumes, an authentic boudoir recreation of 18th century French society, a new kind of savage 'monster' and some of the finest stylized fight scenes ever laid down in a 'genre' film, place "Brotherhood of the Wolf" among the classiest horror adventure films of all time.Great moments include the culminating rage of Samuel Le Bihan's gentlemanly character 'Fronsac' who explodes into a Conan-like fury as he meets out 'justice' to those that wronged his Iroquois-Mohawk 'blood brother' played by Marc Dacascos, Vincent Cassel suitably creepy as the decadent 'Morangias', sensuous Monica Belluci as the dangerous and vicious 'Sylvia', interesting historical plot-points, and a bond of friendship between an unlikely pair of frontier adventurers, make director Christopher Gans "Brotherhood of the Wolf" an original  masterpiece of 'genre' film-making....
I knew it was going to be subtitled, and I knew it was a French movie, but other than what I saw in the trailers, I didn't have a clue what to expect.I must say that the trailers were PERFECT, cause they showed just enough to get you interested, but not enough to ruin the cool parts in the movie.I was truly shocked at how good the "Beast" looked, I was really fearing that it would barely be shown and when it was it would look bad, but I thought it looked great!
Mark seems much more of a martial arts fighter though, whereas Samuel is more of a weapon wielder, but equally impressive.Like most movies there were a few scenes that I could have done without, but overall, I was really happy with the film.
After all, the "real" wolf was supposed to have killed over 100 people during it's reign of terror 200 years ago, and there must have been something odd about a wolf capable of such carnage.Christophe Gans is the same person who directed "Crying Freeman", still one of the best action movies of all time (in my humble opinion).
Where an Iroquois learned to fight like that, I will never know, but then again, I wasn't around during the French-Indian wars to verify how they fought:)  Suffice it to say that the action sequences are terrific, the beast is terrifying, and the story is engrossing.
Brotherhood of the Wolf encompasses every genre of film; martial arts, action, romance, thriller, horror, drama, everything.
In "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (the English-language title of "Le Pacte des loups"), a character says that lies told in Latin can be seen as truth; the fact that this is a commercial film in French (with subtitles so you can fool yourself into feeling clever that you're watching an art movie) may explain why some are very, very enthusiastic about it.
Not that the movie doesn't deserve praise (it does in a lot of ways); it's just that I wonder if they'd have been as impressed had it been the identical film shot in English and with an American cast (or with Americans other than Mark Dacascos).Based on the French tale of a deadly creature that roamed the Gallic countryside in the 18th century and was never caught, "Le Pacte des loups" plays like a better, more coherent, more frightening version of "Sleepy Hollow," with the representative from the major city (Samuel le Bihan)and his Iroquois Indian blood brother (Dacascos) sent to investigate the gruesome goings-on, and gradually finding out there's far more than meets the eye - although unlike "Sleepy Hollow," which went overboard with the decapitations, the murders are kept to a minimum in the early going (we do see the beast attacking two of its female victims (the beast only attacks women and children) in the first half, but most of the details are kept to our imaginations...
The movie takes its time setting the pace and mood, slipping in a few clues to the resolution - one hint: watch out for the gun - and risking losing the audience because it really is pretty methodical; but once all the main characters have been introduced, and once past the halfway point, the movie really starts to deliver.Director/co-writer Christophe Gans leaves several narrative threads hanging, but barring a few plot holes this doesn't damage the movie's overall effect because so much stuff is woven into it; the tunnel vision of several of the characters, religious symbolism, conspiracy, a hint of incest between a crippled aristocratic hunter (Vincent Cassel) and his sister (Emilie Dequenne) that comes up in a crucial moment of the plot...
provided you don't think it over too much afterwards (for starters, why does the beast not go after men?), or simply think on the movie's impressive visuals (the first fight scene and several thereafter are in slow motion, but when le Bihan launches an attack on the baddies towards the end - for reasons I won't divulge here - they come in regular speed; some of the CGI effects are a bit awkward, but the work of Jim Henson's Creature Shop is thankfully less like the Bloop in "Lost in Space" and more like their usual effective stuff, with a creature guaranteed to give you nightmares), it works just fine.Mention should also be made of the fine score from Joseph LoDuca, no stranger to scoring uncharacteristically zesty historical stories after Hercules and Xena - his cue for our heroes going hunting and the final scene are standouts, although I could have lived without that song over the credits (sung in English, by the way); of the cast's acting, with special nods to Cassel, Dacascos, and Monica Bellucci as the prostitute who turns out to be more involved with the plot than it appears (if only American actors (and while we're at it, British ones) were as multilingual as their Continental counterparts); and of the brutal but effective fight scenes, with a particularly impressive climax.
While this isn't the all-timer some say it is (that first hour IS a problem), I enjoyed it in the end; despite its reputation, French cinema has always had its accessible offerings (let's not forget it gave us "Diva," Brigitte Bardot, "La Cage aux Folles" and Luc Besson, "The Fifth Element" notwithstanding), and this is further proof.As for Monica Bellucci naked - definitely one of the most memorable (and unlike the other ones, decidedly pleasant) moments in the movie, with Gans throwing in an amazing dissolve from Miss Bellucci's topography to that of the French mountains.
In 18th century France, a dashing hero , the Chevalier De Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his native American friend Mani (Mark Dacascos) are sent by the King Louis XV to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast (based on facts about an unknown animal who killed more than one hundred people in France at the end of 18th century) , a werewolf-like creature (made by Jim Henson factory) that has been massacring villagers .
The picture was based on true events , in fact there actually was a Beast of Gévaudan which was a real wolf-like creature that prowled the Auvergne and South Dordogne regions of France during the years 1764 to 1767, killing about 100 people, often in bizarre circumstances and all the primary characters, except the Native American Mani, actually existed and lived during reign of King Louis XV.
With this film, one can see the French have masterfully picked up on it.Let me list examples showing how "Brotherhood of the Wolf" looks like a typical Hollywood movie : -A narrator presents the movie to make it look more intellectual than it really is, -Fight scenes in the rain with slow motion moments, typically with one dude kicking many people's ass all at once using eastern martial arts (in 18th century France), -Cool American-Indian thrown in, whose medicine and knowledge is somehow better than that of a developed country, cause he's so close to nature and all.., -Very politically correct denunciation of racism and ignorance (but granted, typical French movies also do that a lot), -References to real historical facts in order to flatter the more cultured audience's intelligence,-Female characters who other than their hotness are absolutely useless,-Lack of character development (does anyone actually care for the main characters?), -Surreal dream-sequence added to make the movie seem mystical, -Uninteresting romance seemingly thrown in the movie for the Hell of it, -Scene where the main character takes his revenge in a hate-fueled bloodbath, -White guy goes all Rambo on the bad guys, dressing like an American-Indian in the process because he surely learned how to be a commando when he fought with Indians in North America, -Unrealistic conspiracy theory revealed like it's something awesome, -Final face-off fight during which the antagonist explains his actions,-Many anachronisms, -Cheesy ending which tries desperately to be tragic.I surely forgot some moments, but these are examples which made me smirk or sigh.
If you like Hollywood action movies which aren't particularly original, you might like "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and then feel good about yourself for having watched a foreign film..
Then there are those who believe it was a trained creature working with a human counterpart - an early serial killer using an animal to help him kill.The movie is interesting because, like Mark Pellington's "The Mothman Prophecies," it takes an engaging urban legend and instead of trying to find any direct answers or make it a film entirely _about_ the creature itself, it uses the backdrop as a means to explore other elements."Le pacte des loups" (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) takes the story of the Beast of Gevaudan and twists it around quite a bit.
Some of it works well - the mix of period piece and action movie is a nice blend - but particularly towards the end, once it turns into an unbelievable Jet Li-style martial arts flick, it goes down an awkward path and ruins a lot of what it has already established.
Director Christophe Gans packs every moment of Brotherhood of the Wolf with either bone crunching action, (imagine if John Woo had directed Dangerous Liaisons), or some crazy audio / visual effects or busy scenes with beautiful people.
It started out as a period film about the mysterious deaths in 18th century France, there was horror (expected) - then someone decided to add the action of martial arts with ferocious kick-boxing bouts.
Fortunately, "Brotherhood" does not; it just pushes ahead full throttle distracting our attention with some excellent fight scenes and, of course, this being France, naked women (A dissolve in which Monica Bellucci's breasts become mountain peaks tells you everything you need to know about this film's style).
The producers were trying to make old France look cool like Neo in THE MATRIX, which only makes it look even more silly and desperate in its futile attempt to be hip.This idea could have worked if it was played strictly for laughs but the film takes itself very seriously and it's extremely long, with multiple faux climaxes.
'Pacte des Loups' is a beautiful film, in the tradition of the French historical movies, but well adapted to the needs of the contemporary commercial cinema.
You'll find everything you need: stereotyped and wooden acting; sophomoric direction; tasteless and ignorant action scenes filmed with this oh-so-cool "time stretching" effects; tasteless and ignorant blend of genres, entirely formulaic (horror, martial arts, costumes); digitally over-enhanced cinematography; and above all, glorification of the "state-of-the-art" technology of modern filmmaking, absorbing all of the filmmakers energy, with nothing left for the important things: scenography, acting, storytelling, awareness of the camera, subtext.
The fact that it is foreign may have some reasoning for it having ending up in my film collection, undoubtedly coupled from all the rave reviews on the back, but after having watched the film, I was left in some confusion as to why.It certainly is an interesting outing, from that there is no escaping, and the fusion of action and horror with a period placing of eighteenth century France gives it a noted 'classy' edge, but throughout there was something missing.
Starting as an action flick (including martial arts in pre-revolutionary France!), going on to become a sort of critical view of the french aristocracy but never delving into that, intertwined with a rather ludicrous love-story, evolving into supernatural horror and finally turning into a conspiracy-piece that is so far-fetched as to make the alleged Kennedy-assassination-plot a fact.
For an experiment group of, say, four people this type of gamble will result in two either leaving or falling asleep from boredom, the third trying to understand what the hell the movie is about, and the fourth one glued to the screen with his eyes not willing to miss a moment, even if he or she has to keep one eye on the subtitles at all times.Taking on a semi-historical event, the film tells the story of two people hired to help find a beast believed to have caused a series of brutal killings in a French province.
The friend I borrowed this movie from reminded me that, when BOTW came out, Crouching Tiger and Matrix were all the rage, so of course this film went a bit over the deep end with the fights and slo-mo nonsense, and I can understand that...but...having seen it for the first time only a few days ago, I can tell you this: that style only hinders, only dilutes.
I say 'period' only because it feels like a believable portrayal of a fantastical moment in history (i.e."Van Helsing" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - but minus a small amount of the cheese.) As far as the fine art of film-making goes, "Brotherhood of the Wolf" will never be a hailed a masterpiece, but there are more than a handful of ideas and sequences within the film that make it a must.The costume design is interesting, most of the cinematography is lovely, but seeing modern production drawings within the film is lame.The films bulky runtime of two hours and twenty minutes is a bit hard to swallow.
AKA - smart people."Brotherhood of the Wolf" is very entertaining, and quite good quality in almost every respect, except pacing/shot selection, and visual effects.If your first language is English, I highly recommend watching this film in French, with English subtitles.
It's difficult to define "Brotherhood of the Wolf" - part horror monster movie, part action (it contains some very well shot martial arts scenes), part romance, part historical drama...short of comedy, there's something for everyone in this film!
After seeing it several times, I have learned to appreciate the film for its positive points (great fight scenes, amazing cinematography, beautiful women, interesting plot twists) and ignore some of its shortcomings (a bad actor here and there, CGI effects that might seem outdated due to the lower french budgets).In France, people rated this movie either 5 stars or zero stars.
Of course, the locals and the "Noblesse" think its a wolf but the bite radius found on a victim rules this out.The movie is a departure from the typical French cinema which has been changing direction in the past decade with films like "La Femme Nikita" and "City of the Lost Children."  There is definitely influences from Hong Kong action films which is well filmed and moves the pace of the film nicely and the slow motion is used effectively to evoke the terror that the beast's unfortunate victims feel.The film's plot twists too many times and it runs 30-40 minutes longer than it really needed to.
bad points: 1.too long(could have easily been cut to at least 2 hours and all the important elements could have remained in place) 2.does not know what it wnats to be(the narrative goes in too many directions,a little directorial focus would have been appreciated) 3.not enough scenes with the wolf(it's disappointing when the title creature has limited screen time,especially when i feel these are the most excited and effective scenes).in closing,the good definitely outweighs the bad in this french import,and i mildly recommend it to action/horror fans.it's nice to see french cinema going in this direction,it can only get better,but my favorites from that country are still human resources,the dreamlife of angels,rosette and lovers on the bridge.check it out,i was entertained for 2 and a half hours(i own the region 2 dvd)and the fight scenes are more exciting than matrix and crouching tiger.I would'nt even compare them  to this,they did'nt use computer fx or wires,its much more realistic,no flying ninjas and 10 punches in one second trifle.i'll take dacascos over keannu reeves any day.ok maybe that wasnt so short or sweet..
But if you are expecting to see a French movie, this film is not good for you.