Pfeiffer to Star in Cheri

Now this is what we're talking about. Michelle Pfeiffer is set to star in a new film directed by the esteemed Stephen Frears, with whom she worked on the terrific "Dangerous Liaisons" twenty odd years ago. The film is called "Cheri," a period piece in which the beautiful Pfeiffer plays a retired courtesan who has an affair with a peer's young son. The film also stars Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend.

According to IndieWire:

Pfeiffer and Bates play aging courtesans who have made a career in attracting kings, aristocrats and others in the upper echelons of society who lavish wealth on them for their company. Pfeiffer plays one of the most successful of the women, Lea, who has retired from her trade living off the fruits of her many successes. One day she visits her old rival, Mme Peloux (Bates).

Though the two do not care much for each other, they nevertheless engage in respectful interaction on occasion. While at lunch, Pfeiffer encounters Peloux’s young son, Cheri (Rupert Friend), who leads a life of debaucherous indulgence. His mother wants him to eventually settle down, but first she solicits Lea’s help in “making him a man.” She obliges - and what was meant to be a short term trist evolves into a passionate love affair that lasts six years. The affair, however, is interrupted when Mme Peloux arranges for Cheri to be married to a pretty 18 year-old and her large dowery. The abrupt end to their relationship then brings on a tidal wave of misery and personal intrigue.

So, it's kind of like My Tudor. Well, except that it's directed by an Academy Award nominated director, stars two award-winning actresses, and is set in Belle Epoque era France.

In all seriousness, this promises to be a very good, mature film on the complexities of older women-younger man relationships. And it's also likely not to trade on pop culture stereotypes of cougars as in the more comedic approaches in the upcoming TV show "Cougar Town" or Aniston's big screen "Pumas."

What do you think? How psyched are you to see the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer explore her cougar side?




Photo Source: StarPulse