A lush, romantic drama set in the high courts of 16th Century France. Against the backdrop of the savage Catholic/Protestant wars, Marie de Mézières finds herself married to a young prince she does not love, haunted by a rakish suitor from her childhood, and advised by an aging nobleman, harboring his own forbidden desire for her.
The sweepingly romantic drama THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER is the perfect showcase for actress Melanie Thierry (Babylon A.D., The Legend Of 1900), one of the most beautiful and accomplished young actresses in the world. In this vivid film, she is the object of desire of four powerful men: the young prince who married her but is driven more by jealousy than lust, the battle-scarred beauty Henri De Guise (Gaspard Ulliel of Hannibal Rising and A Very Long Engagement) who must have her no matter the risk, the powerful Duc d Anjou, and her personal tutor (the soulful Lambert Wilson from Of Gods And Men) who is the only man that loves her truly. In the tradition of Dr. Zhivago, this film by director Bertrand Tavernier (Round Midnight) proves that indeed passion destroys everything.
“The Princess of Montpensier” enters the field of the swashbuckling romance, so littered with our memories of other films, and conquers it with a startling freshness. So well does Bertrand Tavernier evoke the period that it evokes tangible physical qualities: the warmth of flesh, the coldness of steel, the green fields on which men fight and die. This world of France in 1562 might be idyllic, if it were not being torn by the need of Catholics and Protestants to kill one another. – Roger Ebert
Starring Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet.
Note: Rated R for brief nudity and sexuality, some warfare.