QUEEN MARGOT
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
The time is the late 1500s. Religious wars are raging in France. Catholics, such as Catherine de Medici (Verna Lisi) who was the Queen Mother was on one side while the Protestants were on the other. It was not about God; it was about power and who gets to rule.
It is at this point that the Queen Mother decides to lessen her problems and seek a peace by marrying her beautiful daughter, Margot (Isabelle Adjani) to the Protestant Henri of Navarre (Daniel Auteil). Charles IX (Jean-Hugues Anglade) was one of three brothers of Catherine. All three brothers are believed by historians to have been in love with their beautiful sister, Margot, to the point where incest is suspected. Given that it was rumored that she had bedded at least a dozen prior to her marriage, the stories about her are believable.
What makes the film difficult to follow is that much of it was filmed in the dark so that it is difficult to know who is who when a battle breaks out in which many thousands of people died including most of the guests who Henri of Navarre brought to the wedding. With historians differing about who started the massacre, the audience is left on its own. What we do know is somewhere between 2,000 and 100,000 were massacred that day.
It is the strong acting by the stunning Adjani that helps hold the story and the film together while the audience will learn something about history.
Directed by Patrice Chereau from a story by Alexandre Dumas.
2.5 Bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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