QUEEN MARGOT
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1995 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): 1/2
QUEEN MARGOT is about a period of French history (1572) of which I know little. I am a big history buff, I love costume dramas, and I have seen the excellent trailers for QUEEN MARGOT so I was looking forward to this show.
In France, Queen Margot, a Catholic, marries Henri of Navarre, a Protestant, in an arranged marriage that neither wants. That much is clear. It is also obvious that the two religious camps hate each other and that war is about to break out. Everything else including who all of the minor characters are and why is a total fog for the first hour of the movie. Eventually, you figure it all out and then you realize that the problem with the movie is not that it is incomprehensible. The problem in the movie is that it was poorly crafted from the beginning.
How do I start in describing this disaster of a movie? Let's start with the cinematography. It was filmed with cameras with dirty lens or so it seemed, and they used a low contrast film that made the picture hard to see, dark and depressing. The set decoration, with the possible exception of the cathedral scene, was bland and totally without imagination.
Perhaps the worst parts of the movie are the costumes and the makeup. On the one hand, I love seeing beautiful women in movies, and this picture was filled with them. So why am I complaining? On the other hand, are we really supposed to believe that every single woman, rich and poor, in France looked like she just stepped out of a photoshoot for Vogue with million dollar clothes and tons of makeup whereas every single man looked like an alcoholic bum who had not taken a bath in years and had the look of grease dripping from his beard? Sad to say they got an Academy Award nomination for this clothing too.
The acting was of the lets all look pained and deliver our lines in a low whinny whisper school of acting. Isabelle Adjani looked marvelous in the picture, but too bad they forgot to tell her this was not a photo session and she had to act. Henri (Daniel Auteuil) looked like he had gas in most of the movie. I hope he gets to feeling better soon. All of the other actors and actresses in the movie managed to be even worse than the two leads which was hard to do.
The director (Patrice Chereau) had no idea what kind of movie he wanted to make, and it showed. He provided lots of bloody scenes in an attempt to enliven this dreary and boring movie, but to no avail.
The movie runs on and on and on at an exhausting 2:23. It is rated R for numerous bloody decapitations, murders of all types, rape, sex, and scenes reminiscent of the bodies in Nazi concentration camps. I do not recommend it for any human being and certainly not for teenagers or younger. It is in French with English subtitles. I give it 1/2 of a star for reasons that totally escape me--perhaps Adjani's smile is worth a half a star.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEWED WRITTEN ON: February 3, 1995
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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