Brotherhood of the Wolf
For over a year the hills of Gévaudan in the south of France were terrorised by a mysterious beast, a powerful predator with teeth like knives whose victims were torn to shreds but which defied those who hunted it, resulting in King Louis XV sending his Chevalier Grégoire de Fronsac through the autumn mud and rain to investigate with the help of his friend and companion Mani, an Iroquois warrior and last survivor of his tribe.
Guests of the Marquis d’Apcher who also hosts the nobleman Jean-François de Morangias and his sister Marianne, with few survivors to describe the creature and its behaviour the clues are sparse and contradictory, Fronsac discovering what is apparently a fang made of metal at the site of the most recent attack, but replaced by the Lord de Beauterne who intends to present a stuffed trophy to close the case with expedience rather than effort Fronsac’s findings are ignored while the mystery remains.
The general audience perception of subtitled European cinema that of monochrome musings of the bourgeois intelligentsia such as in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, the release of director Christophe Gans’ fantastical and bloody Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups) in 2001 was something of a shock to the system, a two-and-a-half hour French historical thriller of murder, mayhem, mysticism, martial arts and monsters as well as political manoeuvring.
Starring Three Colours: Red‘s Samuel Le Bihan as Grégoire de Fronsac, The Monk‘s Vincent Cassel as Jean-François de Morangias and Spectre‘s Monica Bellucci as Sylvia, the enigmatic courtesan with whom Fronsac becomes involved, perhaps the most widely recognised face at the time was Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Mark Dacascos as Mani, while the background of the story is documented fact, “la Bête du Gévaudan” estimated to have carried out over two hundred attacks between 1764 and 1767.
Filmed in the mountainous Hautes-Pyrénées and using the Château de Roquetaillade as a principal location, Brotherhood of the Wolf acknowledges and embraces the clash of styles and ideas upon which it is built, contrasting the nobility of France and the peasants who serve them, the watercolour portraits of Fronsac and the oil paintings which decorate the grand halls and the dissection tables and oubliettes beneath, the fine gowns and ruffles of the society ladies and the veils worn by Sylvia who in other circumstances bares all but her true intentions.
Most obvious, however, and a major selling point of the film to a wide audience was Mani’s unexpected fighting skills, Dacascos’ career launched by his martial arts proficiency displayed in numerous scenes as attempts are made to prevent Fronsac from tracking the beast and those it serves, the title referring not so much to the animal itself as the secret society using it to leverage their interests against the king they wish to displace.
Nominated for eight Saturn awards and with Dominique Borg winning a César for her ravishing costume design, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a visual feast though at times an uneven one, the careful pacing of the investigation and the air of dread which permeates the countryside giving way to a rushed final act when the beast is suddenly easier to track, and it is frustratingly apparent throughout the subtitling often summarises what is said rather than giving direct translations of the dialogue.
The full-length director’s cut restored for a new edition by StudioCanal, the DVD of Brotherhood of the Wolf carries a commentary by Christophe Gans and a second by Vincent Cassel and Samuel le Bihan, with the Blu-ray double disc also including deleted scenes and trailers while the four-disc 4K version has additional featurettes in addition to the unrestored theatrical cut of the main feature.
Brotherhood of the Wolf is available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital download from StudioCanal
