Breillat's ideas owes much to Angela Carter, yet The Bloody Chamber author would surely be depressed by the lack of dynamism on display.

Breillat's chamber-piece of oblique eroticism is beautifully designed and acted but rendered slightly unsatisfying by a pointless second level of narrative reality.

What's most surprising about this adaptation is how free of violence it is: rather than embrace its potential for serial-killer bloodlust, [Breillat] has produced a witty, graceful and unusually tender reading of the story.

Bluebeard errs on the side of tenderness, planting and poignantly nurturing the seedlings of inevitable betrayal.