The films of French provocateuse Catherine Breillat, like 1999's groundbreaking "Romance" or 2001's controversial "Fat Girl," have garnered much attention for their defiantly unpretty depictions of graphic sex. Actual penetration notwithstanding, it's easy to miss how skillfully Breillat explores the less-tangible ways that people get deep inside each other, where they can do some real damage. Her latest film, "The Last Mistress," is set in 19th-century France, and working within the confines of a period piece, Breillat backs only slightly off the button-pushing carnality and delivers her best film yet, a riveting mix of ferocious power struggle, softcore scorn porn, and heartbreaking human compulsion.

Part of "The Last Mistress" is told in flashback, as an elderly marquise contentedly lounges in a damask chair late one night to listen as her granddaughter's fiancé answers for a bit of scandalous gossip. The young man is Ryno (newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou), a charming, penniless libertine who has been the talk of Paris thanks to his decade-long liaison with the notorious Vellini (Asia Argento), described as a "flamenca who could outstare the sun." Ryno opens up to the rapt marquise about their history, a combustible tale of lust, weakness, tragedy, and surprising warmth, assuring his future grandmother-in-law that the dalliance is over and that he is devoted to her beloved Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida, "Sex is Comedy").

Now 36 years old - "a good age to make way for another," according to a meddling viscount - Vellini herself admits "It's been an unusual relationship, with more hate than love," but she's unwilling to step aside for this year's model. And while the first act of "The Last Mistress" chronicles Ryno's goodbye coupling with Vellini, with him insisting upon his exit that "You don't cheat on the one you love with someone you no longer love," the third act consists of Vellini's attempts to prove him wrong. It could be argued that if Vellini truly cared about Ryno she'd let him go, but Breillat is more concerned with the destructive realities of ego and pride than fairy-tale sacrifice. The French title, "Une Vielle Maitresse," translates more directly to "An Old Mistress," but with Vellini's stubborn, selfish determination, "The Last Mistress" probably isn't incorrect either.

Breillat favors tight close-ups on the faces of her performers, forbidding them to wither in the camera's direct gaze. And while both Breillat and her equipment are clearly enamored of the luscious Aattou, she may have found her match in the brave, earthy strength of Asia Argento. She's never been a decent actress, but with a smoky croak capable of registering total indifference, physical bliss, and feral agony, Argento embodies Vellini as powerless over a desire that consumes everything in its path. Amidst the reconstructed opulence, Breillat recognizes that 1835 could easily be now, and Vellini could easily be you. "I'd have enjoyed seeing you killed today," Vellini purrs to Ryno before a duel. You'd never mean it. But maybe you'd mean it, if only for the bittersweet release.

Writer-director Fatih Akin will soon be part of the anthology "New York, I Love You," due February 2009, but he barreled onto the international cinema stage with 2004's "Head-On" a brutal, beautiful character study about a marriage of convenience between two Turkish immigrants in Germany. His follow-up, "The Edge of Heaven," won the screenplay award at the 2007 Cannes Fest, and it too focuses on the collision of German and Turkish souls. This time, however, Akin stretches his canvas into an ensemble drama, with a professor, a prostitute, and a political dissident making up half of the film's six protagonists, all of whom are connected in ways that take their confident time in coming to light.

Using virtuoso editing that conveys even more than its keenly observed dialogue, "The Edge of Heaven" begins unfolding after an old Turkish man hires a middle-aged hooker to ease his longing for home. The plot takes flight from there in directions both touching and shocking, despite the fact that Akin uses title cards to seal the fate of certain characters. Forgive my vagueness, but "The Edge of Heaven" is one of those creations about which little should be revealed, the better to appreciate the sublime craftsmanship involved on both sides of the lens.  

The Last Mistress

(NR), written and directed by Catherine Breillat

Opens Friday

The Edge of Heaven

Written and directed by Fatih Akin

Screens Saturday at the Dryden