The Princess of Montpensier Blu-ray

Bertrand Tavernier's superbly-staged period romance is set against the backdrop of the 16th century French religious wars. It is 2011’s standout French release, says Mike McCahill.

Overlapping with Patrice Chereau’s La Reine Margot in unfolding against the backdrop of the French Wars of Religion, Tavernier’s The Princess of Montpensier carves out its own niche, providing both stirring entertainment and something more politically pointed.

At the film’s heart is Marie (Mélanie Thierry), a spirited, convent-educated young woman whose heart is set on the thrusting Duc de Guise, yet is obliged to wed dullard Prince Montpensier due to her father’s wishes. That Marie has come to be regarded as an object is evident from the way her deflowering becomes a public event, with a buffet laid on for those invited to pull up a front-row seat as the Prince first takes ownership of his bride. Marie, however, longs to be loved for who she is, rather than what she might represent.

Ripsnorting battle scenes alternate between the muddy, the bloody, and the properly epic, but Tavernier casts young, transforming the film into something more radical: a costume drama about individuals trapped within a hierarchy insistent on treating them as mere pawns in a power game. Even the sparky Duc d’Anjou bemoans the fact he’s being pushed into marrying the bald, fiftysomething Elizabeth I to secure a tactically advantageous
political alliance. The threat of insurrection hangs heavy in the air.

The performances are never less than vivid. Mélanie Thierry, fierce-eyed and determined of jaw, simply glows; the rakish Raphaël Personnaz channels both Errol Flynn and any number of New Romantic popstars; while Lambert Wilson is perfectly cast as the old warhorse who finds himself punished for a failure to declare his heart. Both romantic and rigorous, this is 2011’s standout French release.

Mike McCahill on 21st September 2011
Author of 215 reviews