Customer Reviews

Queen Margot (La Reine Margot)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie was pretty good - not my favorite but interesting! What I didn't like was not having the option of removing the English subtitles. I'm bilingual and I like to have the option of removing or adding subtitles.

Ma copie récente de ce DVD est en français (original) avec des sous-titres anglais disponibles sur demande et non permanents (heureusement!). La qualité du transfert est acceptable, cependant le film La Reine Margot n'est pas présenté dans une version grand écran optimisée pour les télé 16 x 9 (Anamorphic widescreen), ce qui est très étonnant. Le film est donc présenté dans ce compromis bizarre et techniquement dépassé: dans un cadre 4 x 3 pour télé standard, apparaît une image rectangulaire (letterbox), donc réduite. Si vous disposez d'un grand écran 16 x 9, vous devrez donc gonfler (zooming) l'image, ce qui naturellement lui enlève de la clarté et de la précision. Dommage! Le résultat est quand même acceptable.

Si ce film, basé sur le roman d'Alexandre Dumas, est assez fidèle historiquement, les costumes et les coiffures surtout ne sont pas d'époque. Les cheveux longs pour les hommes se porteront sous Louis XIII. Tous les portraits que nous avons de Charles IX, Henri III, etc. montrent des cheveux courts. Ça a l'air d'un détail, mais c'est très révélateur du sérieux de l'entreprise de Chéreau. (Comme le blondinet Di Caprio essayant de passer pour Louis XIV!)

Côté distribution, si Virna Lisi EST incontestablement Catherine de Médicis, Pascal Greggory, malgré son talent, incarne un Anjou (futur Henri III) invraisemblablement macho et historiquement complètement à côté de la plaque. Quant à la Margot de Adjani, c'est une héroïne romanesque et romantique, sans doute comme la concevait Dumas. Auteuil (Navarre) est fabuleux comme toujours. Vincent Perez (de la Môle) surjoue, mais il est bien beau! On peut comprendre les émois de la Margot.

Enfin, le peu de musique qu'on peut y entendre n'a rien à voir avec la musique de la Renaissance française. Par exemple, le grand orgue qui accompagne le choeur lors du mariage de Henri et Margot ne sera disponible qu'un siècle plus tard. Cette fantaisie historique et romanesque n'a rien à voir avec le sérieux et l'authenticité d'une télésérie comme Elizabeth avec Glenda Jackson (1971), qui se passe à la même période des guerres de religion, mais de l'autre côté de la Manche. Série que je recommande fortement à ceux et celles qui s'intéressent aux grands personnages historiques.

I loved it so much! I have been searching for the dvd edition (this one) i want. But can not seem to find it anywhere. If this ever comes out agian i will get it right away. Everyone here seems to have talked alot about the movie itself but not the actual dvd. If anyone could tell me wether it has english subtitles or not, and how the dvd itself is qaulity wise. I would much appreciate it!

I first saw this movie in the theatre during its run. At the time I was horrified by the amount of blood that seemed to be flowing and annoyed by the historical discrepancies. France during the wars of religion is one of my specialties, and all the characters of the movie are well-known to me. While the historical outlines of the story are true, the discrepancies and anachronisms of the movie are huge, largely due to their being seen through the lens of a 19th centry romantic novel (Dumas, La Reine Margot). The costuming and sets are often anachronistic as well and the soundtrack is weird beyond belief, having nothing to do with the period or place at all (it's contemporary Bulgarian). And yet, the performances of all the actors (with the exception of Vincent Perez who is a bit wooden) are stunning and keep me coming back to it time and again. Be warned, however, that there is a great deal of sexual activity and much bloodshed.

This movie is dark, violent, bloody and gorgeous. The slaughter of the Huguenots is the backdrop for the unlikely romance between the Queen of Navarre and a Huguenot supporter. I cannot think of one miscast actor in this drama; all were superb, but special mention of Vincent Perez and Daniel Auteuil is mandatory.

Kudos also to the director for including such a unique score. The Slavic musical score is not authentic to the period, but entirely appropriate to the mood of the piece.

This film spurred me to read the Dumas novel upon which it was based "Marguerite de Valois". While the film differs in details, it captures the essence of the novel.

Do not watch this film if you cannot stomach strong stuff: blood, gore, beheadings etc. The story, however, carries interest throughout. Worth a purchase for your film library.

Beautiful historical fiction piece! Lush drama set upon actual historical figures and events and done in French. Oh this movie is so beautiful and haunting I play it again and again. I just wish I could give a HIGHER rating to a beautiful movie.

This movie has sex, violence, murder, political intrigue, religious hatred, bloody massacres, all the ingredients for solid adult entertainment.

The one historical flaw that I don't think has already been mentioned is the prophecy given to Cathryn Medici regarding the fate of her three sons. It's a documented historical fact that this prophecy was given by Nostradamus. In the movie, she receives it from the fat, disgusting executioner, who practices divination using organs dissected from the body of a condemned prisoner. The director may have made this choice for effect, but it is a gross inaccuracy. Nostradamus has never been described as large and overweight, he was a court physician, not a butcher (he even strongly opposed the then popular practice of bloodletting as a cure), and he divined using a brass bowl, filled with water and perched on a tripod; his visions appeared to him reflected on the pool of water. The director appears to have sympathy for the Protestants, but it seems he was loath to give credit to a Jew who was driven to convert by the virulent religious intolerance in France at that time.

I had the fortune of seeing this film 2 years ago, and am waiting for a DVD version to come out and make my life complete. It is my all time favorite costume drama, kind of trashy and melodramatic but completely gorgeous to look at and wonderfully acted. Isabelle Adjani looks amazing playing the role of a 19 year old at 38. Essentially, this is my one guilty chick flick pleasure, albiet one with lots of slaughter and blood.

I watched this movie on the television one day, just out of nowhere really, I always enjoy watching French films but there has never been one so amazing as this one. So much happens, and the drama is so perfect that it spellbinds you to keep watching.
I recommend this to any movie goer.

I've seen this movie six years ago in the cinema and I had to get in VHS by the Amazon.com Marketplace. It's one of the best french movies I've ever seen (the other is La Nuit de Varennes). No doubt, BUY IT!!!