QUEEN MARGOT
A film review by Max Hoffmann
Copyright 1995 Max Hoffmann
French, with subtitles Directed by Patrice Chéreau Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Virna Lisi, Vincent Perez, Julien Rassam, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Pascall Greggory
(Warning: very bloody violence and explicit sex; all justified by the actual historic events depicted. Do not attend if you cant stand visceral brutality.)
This is a GREAT movie: fascinating, entertaining, enlightening, sensual, top-notch performances and very very accurate for 16th Century historical look and feel. Although the costumes are magnificent, they are often sweaty and bloodstained. You can almost smell the crowd.
Set in 1572 France, torn by religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. Queen Mother Catherine DeMedici (Virna Lisi in an astonishing performance) continues to rule France, even though her son, King Charles IX, has come of age. The film opens with a marriage between the Kings Catholic sister, Margot (Adjani), and Henri of Navarre (Daniel Auteil), a protestant King. Dimly light scenes accurately capture sweaty, night interiors as we see tensions mount between Catholic and Protestant roommates on the eve of the celebration.
The St. Bartholomews Day massacre of Protestants (who were wedding guests of the court) is depicted with visceral realism. It leads to intrigue and blood letting that would make any DYNASTY viewers head spin. Not for the squeamish or feint of heart. The screenwriter chose not to soften the incredible atrocity of the massacre, which provides for some intense imagery; ladies of the court delicately stepping over bloody corpses that are being stripped by looters.
The photography is magnificent, and this is the first historical film in recent memory with highly believable lighting. Except for one dramatically overlight cathedral, most of the interiors seem to be lit only by grimy windows or candlelight. Much of the plot revolves around the newly weds being held in the Louvre as virtual prisoners. You share their paranoia about what might be lurking in the inky dark shadows.
A good portion of this films visual gifts are provided by four handsome French actors, who intersect with Margot in a variety of ways as her brothers and/or lovers. Its easy to imagine that Pascall Greggory, as Anjou (next in the line of succession) may well be drawing from past life memories. He looks gooood in that long hair and mustache, and he knows how to broadcast a sense of authority by the way he rides a horse. Jean-Hugues Anglade, the smoldering male lead from BETTY BLUE, plays King Charles. Heart throb Vincent Perez is luscious as the Protestant lover, despite the grimy makeup and sweaty costumes. Queen Margots motivation is no mystery here. Isabelle Adjani has evidently discovered a secret fountain of youth; no face lift scars, and she looks virtually identical to her film persona of 20 years ago. Be prepared to hate her. ;-)
This film will stick with you for a long time. I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen, which would prove more revealing for the magnificent costume detail. I fear that much of the subtle nighttime detail would fade into black pixels when viewed on video. I also find subtitles more subconscious in larger type in a darkened theatre. This is also the kind of film that stirs a lot of audience energy that you'll miss in your living room.
Due to the film's historical accuracy, there are no clear cut protagonists. Like the courtiers themselves, you may find yourself dizzied by the constantly changing tides of power and intrigue. Unlike most popular Hollywood films, QUEEN MARGOT does not rewrite history to make any of the characters more appealing than they probably were in real life. Thats one of the reasons I liked the film. Its also one of the reason others may hate it.
# # #
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews