Can you help me identify a French fantasy movie for me?

[trynda1701]

Hope people can help, because this is irritating me!

About a month or so back, I saw on YouTube a trailer for a fantasy movie, only available in the original French, plus the opening scene. In the scene, it's raining, and a father and daughter are being chased by three or four men. They catch the pair, and start to beat up the father. Then they are interrupted by a man on horseback, who dismounts, and proceeds to beat the men up, winning easily.

The trailer indicates something about a beast that will be the Big Bad in the movie, and the mystery man is our hero/anti-hero? (Trying to be specific without giving away spoilers!)

I MIGHT have heard it being mentioned here on TrekBBS and looked it up, or just stumbled over it accidentally on YouTube. But having cleared my history there, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the film!!!

Anyone know which film I'm talking about? I think it's at least ten years or more ago?

 

[FormerLurker]

That sounds a LOT like "Le Pacte De Loups" ("Brotherhood of the Wolf"), starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos and Vincent Cassel. Here's IMDb's description:

In 18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.

And the longer summary:

In 1764 something was stalking the mountains of central France. A 'beast' that pounced on humans and animals with terrible ferocity. Indeed they beast became so notorious that the King of France dispatched envoys to find out what was happening and to kill the creature. By the end, the Beast of Gevaudan had killed over 100 people.To this day, no one is entirely sure what it was, a wolf? a hyena? or something supernatural? The Beast is a popular myth in France, albeit one rooted firmly in reality; somewhat surprisingly it is little known to the outside world, and perhaps incredibly it has never been made into a movie. Until now. Based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorized France in the eighteenth century, the movie aims to tell first and explain afterwards. In the first part, a special envoy of the King of France, altogether biologist, explorer and philosopher, arrives in the Gevaudan region, in the mountainous central part of France. The Beast has been attacking women and children for months and nobody has been able to harm it or even take a good look at it. In the second part, our hero Chevalier de Fronsac will not only have to fight the Beast, but also ignorance, bigotry and conspiracy and will rely on two women, one an aristocrat, the other a prostitute, as well as the enigmatic Mani, an Iroquois he met in New-France (Canada).

The opening scene is a young woman pursued by ruffians, who are met in the rain and run off by Le Bihan and Dacascos' characters, Fronsac and Mani. I saw it in theater when it was out in 2001. Good movie.

 

[trynda1701]

That is indeed the movie I was after. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Yes, it was bugging me that much!)

I wonder if it's out on Region 2 DVD or BluRay? Like you said, @FormerLurker, it looks like a good movie. I'd really like to see it.

 

[John Clark]

That is indeed the movie I was after. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Yes, it was bugging me that much!)

I wonder if it's out on Region 2 DVD or BluRay? Like you said, @FormerLurker, it looks like a good movie. I'd really like to see it.

I saw the dvd a few years back in HMV, so it's available as region 2. Amazon UK have that and the blu (Region B) though the blu is a bit pricier

 

[trynda1701]

Yes, I found it on Amazon UK just after I posted my query, and have ordered the DVD.

 

[JD]

That sounds a LOT like "Le Pacte De Loups" ("Brotherhood of the Wolf"), starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos and Vincent Cassel. Here's IMDb's description:

In 18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.

And the longer summary:

In 1764 something was stalking the mountains of central France. A 'beast' that pounced on humans and animals with terrible ferocity. Indeed they beast became so notorious that the King of France dispatched envoys to find out what was happening and to kill the creature. By the end, the Beast of Gevaudan had killed over 100 people.To this day, no one is entirely sure what it was, a wolf? a hyena? or something supernatural? The Beast is a popular myth in France, albeit one rooted firmly in reality; somewhat surprisingly it is little known to the outside world, and perhaps incredibly it has never been made into a movie. Until now. Based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorized France in the eighteenth century, the movie aims to tell first and explain afterwards. In the first part, a special envoy of the King of France, altogether biologist, explorer and philosopher, arrives in the Gevaudan region, in the mountainous central part of France. The Beast has been attacking women and children for months and nobody has been able to harm it or even take a good look at it. In the second part, our hero Chevalier de Fronsac will not only have to fight the Beast, but also ignorance, bigotry and conspiracy and will rely on two women, one an aristocrat, the other a prostitute, as well as the enigmatic Mani, an Iroquois he met in New-France (Canada).

The opening scene is a young woman pursued by ruffians, who are met in the rain and run off by Le Bihan and Dacascos' characters, Fronsac and Mani. I saw it in theater when it was out in 2001. Good movie.

Yeah, it is good. It was actually the first French movie I ever saw. We were in shock when we went to see it, because some guy brought his very young kid with him and it is definitely not a movie for little kids. The version we saw was subtitled, and it is very complex, very violent, and there's a scene in brothel with women walking around top, and bottomless.

 

[trynda1701]

After seeing the opening scene on YouTube, I was intrigued enough to want to see the movie.

I have no problem it being in French with English subtitles. A few years back, my partner had watched the French crime drama Spiral and she got me engrossed. This led to both of us being hooked on Braquo!

 

[JD]

Just so you know it's not really a fantasy movie, more of just a stylized historical movie. The incident it's based around actually did happen, although the whole resolution is made up for the movie.

 

[trynda1701]

 

[publiusr]

The history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_Gévaudan

I have heard some talk about it being a hyena
https://johnknifton.com/2014/10/13/just-what-was-the-beast-of-gevaudan/