Queen Margot [Blu-ray]

I've had to see this film a few times to truly appreciate it, and so I would like to spare non-French viewers a difficult first time experience. The film was a major prestige production by a French production company with a French director and primarily French actors and was based on Alexandre Dumas's novel. In France the historical period and characters are well known and the future King Henry IV of France has often been portrayed as a hero. In America we receive little education on French history and few know who these characters are besides a passing familiarity with the Medicis but even then mostly in Florence. The director, Patrick Chereau, assumed familiarity with the period and characters and does not pause to give background or motivation. He just throws you right in the middle of things. For this reason I highly recommend doing a little background reading - a Wikipedia article on Margaret of France or Henry IV of France will do - so you know who the primary characters are at least.Then you'll be ready for this really sumptuous and well-acted film that succeeds far better than most in portraying its time, in this case the violent Religious Wars in France between Catholics and the Protestant Huguenots which consumed practically all of the 16th century and well into the 17th. The look of the film is fantastic especially since it doesn't try to "pretty-up" the era but portrays it as a believable mix of royal splendor and everyday grit. More than most historical films, you feel like you are witnessing things as they were.Queen Margot is played by Isabelle Adjani with total commitment and intensity, running through a wide spectrum of emotions without once seeming false. She also totally looks the part of the young ingenue princess even though she was nearly forty when the film was made. The rest of the cast is mostly excellent with Virna Lisi as the scheming Catherine de Medicis, Pascal Gregory the evil Duc d'Anjou and later Henry III, and Daniel Auteuil a very earthy and sympathetic Henry of Navarre. Jean-Hughes Anglade makes a sympathetic character of the weak King Charles IX. There may be disagreement on this since he was a noted hearthrob in France, but Vincent Perez seemed a dark cipher as Marguerite's lover La Mole and they never seemed to really be in love.The film takes its time, but it's a big story in a complex and turbulent time in history. Be prepared for violence, blood and nudity especially in its notable portrayal of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. There are also decadent noble parties and suggestions of incest, so if you're delicate about such matters this is a warning.I don't think anyone nowadays goes to movies expecting historical accuracy, nor should they. Films are dramas and have their own rules and don't exist to teach history. To complicate things even more, this film was not written straight from the history books but from the celebrated Dumas novel. With all history there is a macro-level of large events and a micro-scale of detail. This film does a really good job on the macro-level. It really gives a strong overview of the time of the Religious Wars and of all the factions and politics in government. On the micro side, not so well; just a couple examples. The film opens with the opulent wedding of Henry and Marguerite in Notre Dame when in fact, Henry had to stand outside the cathedral because he was a Protestant. (Of course this would be a confusing way to start a film).The most evil character (outside of Catherine) is Anjou, the future Henry III who is portrayed as a rough, macho character. The actual Anjou, though he was good at fencing, was devoted to art and reading and was considered rather unmanly for it. As Henry III he was a rather decent king who tried his best to keep the country together. (But a film needs a dynamic villain and he made a good one).Le Mole, the lover of Marguerite, is portrayed as a Protestant noble loyal to Coligny. The historic Le Mole was a member of the ardent Catholic faction, the Malcontents, worked for Anjou and persecuted the Protestants during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. ( But the film follows Dumas who for some reason changed everything about Le Mole to ,make him his hero).Worth seeing, but do prepare for it.

Perhaps my anticipation got the best of me, but this latest "Margot" was less a revelation than I had hoped for. Don't get me wrong-- it's still my favorite movie of the last thirty years, and well worth having, but once you do have it, you might want to check out the prior French version, a two-disc Pathe release from, I believe, 2007. It contains further deleted material, all quite worthwhile, and a wonderful conversation between Chereau and Daniele Thompson, among other things. The version of the film shown is pretty much the same as the one here, and granted, with a bit less clarity, but without the annoyingly reconfigured music cues, too. There are still a couple of scenes-- not much more than shots, really-- to be found on other versions, but perhaps Chereau found them ultimately prurient. Being no mean fan of prurience, I regret their exclusion. With films I love as much as this one, more, for me, is always more. This cut, though, was apparently Chereau's lastmost take on the thing, and is thus, I suppose, to be respected. I still, though, damn me, find the analogue sources more alluring in general, although there are moments when the resolution of this latest mastering makes one gasp anew. There are others, though, when the "digitalization" looks just like that sounds. I used to groan at those lamentations on the "warmer" sound of vinyl, but this is something like that. I might indeed come to love this, and I stoutly and with profound gratitude salute the Cohens for bringing it to us. We are truly lucky to have them in our midst, and I hope they sell a kazillion copies. And now I'm going to change my four stars to five, thank you, but why, doggone it, now that we have that great final line available to us, render "sourire sur levres" as merely "smiling" ? Especially given lips like Adjani's? hfs

Quick note. If you’re buying this. Don’t waste money on the HD version. Standard definition is nearly identical.As far as the movie itself goes. This is a very fast and loose adaptation of historical events and figures. That’s not the reason to watch this movie! I think it is very well written and acted but the direction and cinematography are what make this movie a stand out classic that will stand the test of time.The first time I saw this movie was when it was released and I own it on DVD. I purchased the digital download on a prime sale.The reason I continue to come back to this movie is the cinematography and art direction.If you are looking for some thing with Game of Thrones level drama intrigue romance and violence, I’m sure you will enjoy this film provided you don’t mind reading subtitles.The only reason it gets four out of five stars as I think this movie could’ve used an extra hour. This easily should have been a three hour film with all the ground they had to cover.

Great acting, crazy story that’s based in true history.

This movie does not follow the book closely enough for me. I don't want to give anything away, but there were key differences in the plot, and the characters were changed as well. Specifically, the two cavalier friends were made a subplot and far less brave than Dumas portrayed them. And I disliked how the royal family was set so low and base. In the book they are above being touched or disrespected, in the movie they are physically assaulting each other and getting pushed around. Lastly, the king was made such a weakling it was sad to watch. I don't know if Dumas or the movie was more accurate to the time, but I think the royals would had held more distinction than this movie gave them.The cinematics were well done, the actors did well, if I didn't know the book I would have enjoyed it more. However, I think I would have still wanted the overall feel of the movie to be less base and more elegant.

A classic, this film is amazing!

NON FUNZIONANOHo provato con ben due dvd: non vengono letti da nessun tipo di pc o Mac! Li ho inviati indietro chiedendo il rimborso... Ancora niente

Underrated or more likely not marketed well, this French period drama held my interest, thanks to the director and assured acting by all including the beautiful Adjani and I guess the story by Dumas. There was violence lurking in almost all scenes but the sensuousness was also ever-present. Much superior to many better-known Hollywood dramas and I consider it a bargain at less than Rs 200. In French with English subtitles.

On seeing this on blu ray i just had to add it to my collection. It is one of my favourite movies of all time and the fact the blu ray version is over 10 mins longer than the UK DVD version makes it all the better. So if your into period drama movies then i would highly recommend you add this one to your collection. Brilliant

J'ai commandé ce à partir du Royaume-Uni, Pathé UK n'a pas jugé bon de le libérer encore sur Blu-Ray. Je ne pouvais pas attendre car c'est l'un de mes films préférés. C'est un film absolument magnifique qui est très bien fait: il met les films hollywoodiens synthétiques à la honte. C'est aussi beaucoup mieux que certains plutôt brillant drames d'époque du Royaume-Uni. J'ai toujours trouvé Amazon UK pour être fantastique .... mais les bat Amazon.fr. Je suis dans les 48 heures de la commande, il !! Mon seul reproche est le digibook que les disques sont très difficiles à sortir: la pire que j'ai connu. J'espère que cette critique est logique, car mon français est horrible, je me fie à Google de traduire pour moi!

wonderful