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La Reine Margot
1994 Drama / History / Romance
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Credits
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Director: Patrice Chéreau
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Script: Alexandre Dumas père, Danièle Thompson, Patrice Chéreau
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Photo: Philippe Rousselot
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Music: Goran Bregovic
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Cast: Isabelle Adjani (Margot),
Daniel Auteuil (Henri de Navarre),
Jean-Hugues Anglade (Charles IX),
Vincent Perez (La Môle),
Virna Lisi (Catherine de Médicis),
Dominique Blanc (Henriette de Nevers),
Pascal Greggory (Anjou),
Claudio Amendola (Coconnas),
Miguel Bosé (Guise),
Asia Argento (Charlotte of Sauve),
Julien Rassam (Alençon),
Thomas Kretschmann (Nançay),
Jean-Claude Brialy (Coligny),
Jean-Philippe Écoffey (Condé),
Albano Guaetta (Orthon),
Johan Leysen (Maurevel),
Bruno Todeschini (Armagnac),
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
(Escardon Volant)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 162 min
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Aka: Queen Margot
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Summary
Paris, August, 1572 - a troubled time in the history of France, a country torn by wars
and religious strife. To appease the Protestants, the queen mother, Catherine Medici,
arranges a marriage between her daughter, Margot, and the King of Navarre, Henri.
However, this fails to prevent a massacre of the French Protestants, the Huguenots, by
the Catholics. What follows is a series of murders, attempted murders and political
manoeuvrings in which Henri of Navarre is forced to flee from Paris and the king of France
is killed. Meanwhile, Margot finds a secret lover to take the place of the husband
she cannot love.
Review
La Reine Margot is an impressive historical drama, which distinguishes itself from
earlier films of the genre by being far more graphic when it comes to depicting the violence
of the time. The St Barthlomew’s Eve massacre is covered in gruesomely thorough
detail, with some horrific butchery on display. In this respect, the film goes perhaps
further than it should. The violence has the effect of undermining the dramatic
impact and serves mainly to titillate or shock. The same applies to Adjani’s steamy
scenes with Pérez. The overall effect is circus, not theatre, and the film’s
quality suffers as a result.
The film succeeds primarily as a result of director Patrice Chéreau’s incredible
attention to detail. He creates a 16th century France that is frightening in its
realism, a land soaked in terror, hunger and filth.
There are some creditable performances from Auteuil, Adjani and Pérez. However
it is Virna Lisi who shines most brightly as the venomous but tragically flawed Catherine
de Medici.
© James Travers 1999
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