With the loss of their father the two have no dowries, and so agree to attend a party thrown by Lord Bluebeard, in his search for a new wife.

That night, she is overcome with curiosity and opens the room to find all of Bluebeard's past wives murdered and hanging.

[6] J. Hoberman of The Village Voice gave the film a positive review, writing "Psychologically rich, unobtrusively minimalist, at once admirably straightforward and slyly comic, Catherine Breillat’s Bluebeard is a lucid retelling and simultaneous explanation of Charles Perrault’s nastiest, most un-Disneyfiable nursery story.

"[7] Manohla Dargis from The New York Times wrote, "All fairy tales have morals and the one in Ms. Breillat's Bluebeard is brutal, suitably bloody and, like all good retellings, both similar to and different from earlier iterations.

Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly awarded the film a grade C, criticizing the lack of mystery, and suspense, while also commending Breillat's direction.