The Princess of Montpensier

Set amidst the intrigues of Catherine de Medici's French court, this follows the young "Marie" (Mélanie Thierry) who is set to marry "Henri" (Gaspard Ulliel) from the powerful Guise family when her father does a deal and promises her to "Philippe" (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) instead. This sets the families Guise and Montpensier at each other's throats and leaves her in a loveless marriage with a man she doesn't even know, much less like. Meantime, the chivalrous "Chabannes" (Lambert Wilson) has had enough of the brutalities of war, deserted his post, and is returning home when a very timely intervention from "Philippe" - his pupil of many years ago - saves his life and takes him to the castle where "Marie" is now living. She's a bright and intelligent woman and with her husband now sent off to fight, "Chabannes" is charged with being her tutor too. She is a quick learner and is soon aware of just how to play her own game in a world where manipulation - especially at the hands of the Duc D'Anjou (Raphaêl Personnaz) is the only law to be reckoned with. What now ensues is a typical period adventure with treachery, lust, romance, swordplay and it offers us a good looking, if a bit of a light and fluffy, look at the politics in a 16th century France beset with wars between Huguenots and Catholics and ruled by a succession of the queen's weak and indecisive sons. It's got the look of a television movie and the actors seem largely - Thierry and Wilson notwithstanding - to have been selected on eye candy value, but it's genre I like and in the spirit of Alexandre Dumas it's quite an enjoyable historical costume drama that I quite liked.