Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7350 in VHS
• Released on: 1995-08-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dolby, PAL, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Original language: French, Italian
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 155 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, La Reine Margot concerns the events behind infamous Massacre of St Bartholomew in sixth-century France. Isabelle Adjani plays Margot, betrothed for political reasons to one man (Daniel Auteuil) by her mother (Virna Lisi), while she is, in fact, in love with another (Vincent Pérez). Despite the bond that grows between the reluctant couple, plots are hatching all over the castle against the royals. Adventurous, exciting, erotic and given strong artistic credibility through its outstanding cast, the film is enthralling and visually sumptuous. Directed by Patrice Chereau, less known outside of France than is the film's producer, Claude Berri (director of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources). --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Isabelle Adjani stars in the lead role as the beautiful Catholic sister of King Charles IX who is forced to marry the Protestant Henri de Navarre in an effort to reconcile her native France. French dialogue.

From the Back Cover
She was the daughter of a King, the sister of a King, the wife of a King.....and the lover of an enemy.

August 1572 - france is torn apart in bitter religious wars. Marguerite, known as Margot, is proud and beautiful; the Vatholic sister of King Charles IX, she id forced to marry the Protestant Henri de Navarre in an effort to reconcile her native France.

Six days after the wedding, the infamous St Bartholomew's Day massacre takes place, encouraged by Margot's mother, the ruthless scheming Catherine de Medici. Thousands of Protestants are brutally murdered, but one of them, La Mole who is badly wounded, knocks on Margot's door in desperation. She takes him in and, for the first time in her life she falls in love.....with the enemy.

Customer Reviews

magnificent margot in magnificent movie
the magnificent margot in a magnificent movie
That Adjani is a febrile character plotting and loving in 1576 France in a frenetic world where you could be killed for just proclaiming to be a catholic or protestant is the basis to comprehend this masterly act by the French cinema .

The St.Batholomew's day massacre is the setting where the marriage of Henri of Navarre played with a understated tenderness by Daniel Autieul to Margot in an effort to quell the religious conflict is used as a bait by the Catholics headed by Catherine de Medici [Virna lisi]to gather the Protestant aristocracy in Paris for a blood fest.

This is a truly evil and genius stroke which works with 6000 people being butchered in one night with Henri and La Mole saved by Margot,

the puppet king Charles [Anglade]is manipulated by his mother to virtually a charade as he is not in favour of the massacre,but Anjou his brother is just as conniving as the mother and together they conspire in a religious frenzy.

This actually is personal greed for power and control masked as God's work as is most religious frenzy ,the fanatics are the worst christians by any criteria forcibly converting protestants at knife point .

This is the truth and Patrice observes it with a great sense of passion and frenzy which makes this great cinema rather than a mere gruesome history lesson .

Adjani ,Auteuil and Anglade are drawn as humane characters who suffer,enjoy yet have an evil streak too,while La Mole played by the dashing Vincent Perez AS MARGOT'S LOVER is the sacrificial lamb used as a pawn by Catherine the queen who uses one son to assassinate another inadvertently.

She is convinced like all committed fanatics that her murderous schemes are the only absolution and redemption for the french ,her ambition is convicted in a noble motive seeking purity and peace while it wrecks destruction on the whole country as well as her family.

Adjani is played as a french princess would be with a grace and abandon where she is indifferent to any intervention and seeks her desires in public and in an overt manner.To understand this movie you need to study not just history but FRENCH psyche which does not believe in hiding it's true passion or motivations in diplomacy but will exonerate their true desires in a frenzy even if it costs dearly .

Everyone pays a price for their whims in this feverishly excitable classic which remarkably transforms a fascinating era into great entertainment and truly artistic splendour in one of the best historical movies movies ever made.

The fact Vincent perez and Virna lisi come out with aplomb amongst a great cast who are all excellent is no mean feat but neither is this movie any thing other than extra-ordinary .

It requires many viewings for it's technical delights alone with an eerie atmosphere immersed in a surreal light and a grandeur which transcends the costumes and the magnificence of louvre .

usman khawaja
- jbz7879

Characters were weak & lets the film down
If you want a night of blood, madness, dirt and sex...this film is for you. It is a great story but I just did not believe in the characters (with the exeption of Henry)and hence did not much care about their fate. This made the film unexciting. Yes it looks great and authentic but every character is portrayed as brutal and none come across as really likable which gives the film an unbalanced feel. You get to the point where you just wish they would all kill each other and be done with it. This is not light entertainment or a tale for the romantic at hearts. It does tell an interesting story if in a somewhat unconvincing and nightmarish way.

History as only the French do it
This is a classic rewrite of a Dumas novel (with some very considerable changes to the story). What the film gives us is a marvellously dirty, smelly, small Paris in which life is lived at a fast rate since it seems to be destined to be short. On top of this "live fast die young" message is a pretty good attempt at representing the politics of the French Wars of Religion layered on top of a gang war with more twists than the Godfather. The Massacre which forms the key event of the story is breathlessly conveyed with a driving score And behind all that is a murder mystery. Dumas could write 'em, even if he didn't quite write this.

Adjani beautiful as only she could be.