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Queen Margot

La Reine Margot

  • Status: Released
  • 13-05-1994
  • Runtime: 138 min
  • Score: 7.2
  • Vote count: 396

Paris, Kingdom of France, August 18, 1572. To avoid the outbreak of a religious war, the Catholic princess Marguerite de Valois, sister of the feeble King Charles IX, marries the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre.

Isabelle Adjani

Margot

Daniel Auteuil

Henri de Navarre

Jean-Hugues Anglade

Charles IX

Vincent Perez

La Môle

Virna Lisi

Catherine de Médicis

Dominique Blanc

Henriette de Nevers

Pascal Greggory

Anjou

Claudio Amendola

Coconnas

Miguel Bosé

Guise

Asia Argento

Charlotte de Sauve

Julien Rassam

Alençon

Thomas Kretschmann

Nançay

Jean-Claude Brialy

Coligny

Jean-Philippe Écoffey

Condé

Albano Guaetta

Orthon

Johan Leysen

Maurevel

Dörte Lyssewski

Marie Touchet

Michelle Marquais

Nursemaid

Laure Marsac

Antoinette

Alexis Nitzer

Advisor #1

Emmanuel Salinger

Du Bartas

Barbet Schroeder

Advisor #2

Jean-Marc Stehlé

Innkeeper

Otto Tausig

Mendès

Bruno Todeschini

Armagnac

Tolsty

Executioner

Bernard Verley

Cardinal

Ulrich Wildgruber

René

Laurent Arnal

Gérard Berlioz

Christophe Bernard

Marian Blicharz

Daniel Breton

Pierre Brilloit

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Cécile Caillaud

Marc Citti

Grégoire Colin

Erwan Dujardin

Jean Douchet

Philippe Duclos

Marina Golovine

Zygmunt Kargol

Carlos López

Orazio Massaro

Roman Massine

Charlie Nelson

Bernard Nissile

Julie-Anne Roth

Jean-Michel Tavernier

Béatrice Toussaint

Mélanie Vaudaine

Nicolas Vaude

Luís Gaspar

(Uncredited)

CinemaSerf

Despite the fact that for much of this I hadn't really much of a clue who was trying to outmanoeuvre whom, I thoroughly enjoyed this historical dose of state sponsored murder and mayhem. Presided over by the imperiously devious Catherine de Medici (Virna Lisi) we follow the machinations at the French court of her sons as they vie for power in France and in Navarre whilst reconciling the growing number of Huguenots (Protestants) in their midst demanding an end to the power of the Catholic church over the state and the poverty stricken people. It's to that end that she marries off her eponymous daughter, Margaret de Valois to the fairly insipid King Henry of Navarre (Daniel Auteuil). He's a puppet for just about everyone and she has little interest in the marriage from the outset. She gets her kicks from the handsome and possibly the most chivalrous of her associates - La Môle (Vincent Perez) but we all know that they are but pawns in brutal game where lives at just about every level of society mean nothing at all! Assassinations, poisonings, rapes - nothing is off limits as this story of power-crazed depravity and scheming soldiers on for just over 2½ hours of blood and sweat and - well that, too! Isabel Adjani delivers a career best performance in the title role, but Auteuil and her brother Charles IX (Jean-Hughes Anglade) also help to deliver the thrust of the story well and entertainingly. Beware, it's no history lesson - if you're looking for factual accuracy then you might be wasting your time. It's a scandalous exposure of absolute dynastic rule that treats tragedy and joy with equal short-termism. The production looks great - it's actually quite uncomfortably difficult to watch at times, but if you like your history gritty, dark and uncompromising then Patrice Chéreau has created something well worth watching. Big screen is certainly best if you can, too.