Movie Rec of the Day: La Reine Margot (France, 1994)

[dangermousie]

Yeah, I am having a slow day.

What a grim, beautiful, passionate, complicated movie this is. I think queenofthorns is a fellow fan.

The movie is based on an Alexandre Dumas novel of the same name and, oddly enough, I adore both even though the tone is rather different. This is one of the rare historical movies that does not feel mannerly or sanitized or remote. Their fingernails are dirty, the lighting is not so great when it's dark, and their hair is not modernly, anachronistically shiny. And it all feels grab-by-your-throat real. This is not the movie for people who are squeamish about violence or nudity. But for those who don't mind, it's quite a gem.

The story is set in 16th century and deals with the events surrounding St. Bartholomew's massacre when Charlex IX and Catherine de Medici organized a wholesale slaughter of the Huguenots of Paris. More specifically it's about Margot, the lovely, intelligent, promiscuous, wholly corrupted Margot. She is Charles IX's sister and someone who is married off against her will to Henri of Navarre as part of a trap for Huguenots. As an aftermath of the massacre she is in trouble as not only did she save a wounded Huguenot soldier La Mole, she also struck a tentative alliance with her new husband. The movie, just like the novel, has a very complicated plot, and is part a doomed and passionate love story (did Dumas ever write any others?) between Margot and La Mole, and part a look at the politics, machinations and twists of the French court, which comes across as a truly, horrifyingly scary place. Isabel Anjani is surreally beautiful as Margot (and she is amazing in the role) and Vincent Perez is suitably gritty and gorgeous as La Mole but the show is almost stolen from them by Daniel Auteil (one of my favorite all-time actors) playing Henri of Navarre as a wryly intelligent, compassionate, lecherous, wholly human man, Jeane-Hugues Anglade who imbues Charles IX with tortured humanity underneath the madness and Virna Lisi, playing Catherine de Medici as a monster in human shape.

Also, the movie looks gorgeous. Here is a still of Margot protecting La Mole that looks just like a painting:


Further proof behind the cut:



La Mole and Margot in the poster promo pose:


Guuuh, sexy!


I love the dirty pale colors of this scene:


Margot at the wedding:


Ready, set, go:


La Mole, desperate:


Angsty lovers:


Now with kissing:


During the massacre:



At the inn:


Preparing for the wedding night:


Trying to convince backers to support a coup:


Margot and La Duchesse de Nevers:


The beautiful black and white shot:


Anjou (future Henri III):


Naked:


Cocconas and La Mole:


More of the poster pose:

Comments

[dtissagirl.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I adore this movie. Bought it a couple of months ago, even. And my mother got a copy for Christmas too. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Good purchase :)I need to buy a copy myself.

[morwen_peredhil]

I love this movie, too. Sigh.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am so pleased to discover others who like it. No one I know in RL has seen it except BFF and she doesn't care for it at all. She says it has "too much realism."

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

I've not heard of this one before, but it sounds like something I'd like. Will have to look for it :-) This is why I come here!

The film I most remember Isabel Anjani from is the one where she stalks the rakish soldier to Nova Scotia and then the West Indies. "The Strange Case of Adele X" I think...or maybe I'm totally mixed up about the film and who was in it...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, haven't seen Adele X so can't help you out on that one :)

Buet yeah, Queen Margot is well worth seeking out, it's an amazing movie. Won scads of French awards, as I remember.

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

It would help if I'd remembered the name correctly. *sigh* If you're curious: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073114/ It's Adele *H*--as in Hugo. Based on a true story about the daughter of Victor Hugo.

And I will look for Queen Margot--I bet our library system has it. They've turned out to be a great source for foreign films. And for something like 75 cents you can have the movie for a week...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that sounds interesting.

Now I am remembering the first time I saw QM. It was also on loan from a library.

[syliasyliasylia.livejournal.com]

Oh! I loved this movie as well! ^^

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's so dark and so good.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I AM a fellow fan - I ADORE this movie. I also really love the Italian actor Claudio Amendola who plays Coconnas (he was a fantastic Nostromo in a wonderful production of "Nostromo" as well) and the fact that my German movie boyfriend Thomas Kretschmann has a small but quite pivotal role (and looks HAWT in his dark blue doublet) - he's de Nancay.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Re: Amendola. So that's where I've seen him, Nostromo. I kept thinking he looked familiar.

And didn't realize TK was in it.

[ancarett]

Oh, I love this movie as well! I need to get a copy on DVD -- my VHS copy wore out. I adored Henry of Navarre and Margot's costumes were to die for!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I actually need to buy a copy. I can't believe I don't own this.

And yes, Navarre was amazing but then I'd watch Auteil read a telephone book. But my favorite was Anglade as Charles IX actually.

[guerillamel.livejournal.com]

I love love love La Reine Margot . It is such a grim , tough movie but also totally watchable . Have you noticed how *red* this movie is . There is a lot of it : blood , fabrics , costumes ... And i really love the soundtrack as well . It is very eclectic but very interesting. And Vincent Perez is at maximum yuminess in this one .

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You know, now that you mention it, yes, there are a lot of red tints. Also a lot of pale, non-soothing blue. It's a visually gorgeous movie.

Vincent Perez is at maximum yuminess in this one

Mmmm. I think he was yummier in "Indochine" but I am severely partial to that movie (the scene where what's-her-name wakes up and thinks he's left and comes across him sleeping in the street and he opens his eyes and looks at her is one of my favorite scenes ever).

I also just realized I saw him in 5 movies (Margot, Indochine, Cyrano, On Guard, Swept Away) and he died in all of them. Either that's a peculiar type of typecasting or it says way too much about my movie tastes. LOL.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the whole movie, but I remember catching part of it and being really impressed* with how gorgeous the actress who plays Margot is. I think that was about when I was coming to grips with the idea that I was attracted to women, and she went a long way to confirm that. :-P

*(codeword for: "guh")

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

If you ever want to watch the whole thing, let me know, because I plan on buying this.

And yeah, Isabel Anjani is stunning. I couldn't believe when I found out she was about 40 when the movie was filmed.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

I love Reine Margot. I saw it on tv a few years ago and afterwards just had to get it on DVD. It's amazingly beautiful visually, and the use of the colour red (as was already mentioned above) just enhances this. I think I'll have to make an icon of that b&w picture.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. *wants to see icon*

*Points at icon*

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

Finally got it done.