Henry of Navarre [DVD] (2010)

Love it or loathe it (and I love it), La Reine Margot is a classic of modern French cinema, a powerful and wonderfully acted film. This film, although it claims to be based on the works of Heinrich Mann, follows the path of Dumas pere for the first hour or so, and essentially rehashes La Reine Margot.LRM is a great film, superbly written, directed and filmed, with a cast that really could not be bettered. It features the cream of that generation of French actors. Although the film is, as noted, wonderfully created, the cast raise it to an even higher level. A classic, really, even if it remains slightly controversial (on the basis that it is retelling Dumas and not history).It's quite interesting that this film treads the same path. Much of the story it tells is inaccurate. Queen Margot de Valois was NOT a slut. She did not sleep with her brothers. In fact, apart from being a fashion icon at court, she is most renowned for her neo-platonic thinking and writing, and her later promotion of platonic love. Her bad reputation originated with Alexandre Dumas, and this has become the accepted version of her.The Duc D'Anjou, Henri III, does not appear to have been gay. He was married (which neither of these films mentions) and he seems to have adored his wife, who was unable to bear him any children.Charles IX died of TB. In LRM he was poisoned, accidentally, by his own mother, at the time of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. In this film the cause of death is less obvious, but the timescale is the same. He actually died in 1574, 2 years after the Massacre.Additionally, Henri's mistress Gabrielle is generally believed to have died from eclampsia, during her 5th (at least) pregnancy. She had provided Henri with 4 illegitimate children. There is no suggestion that she was poisoned.The film is not bad, but does suffer greatly from comparison with LRM. Henri himself does not really come across as particularly likeable or particularly 'good' (as was his epithet). His treatment of Marie de Medici seems unnecessarily cruel and selfish. It's also worth noting that Marie gave birth to 6 children by Henri, so their mutual dislike was possibly not quite as intense as the film suggests.A disappointing view overall, and far too long. It simply reinforces the view that the French royal family (and not just the Boubons) were dissolute and unworthy of their role. But, as noted above, it does perpetuate a lot of historical untruths.As a footnote, although the Blu Ray box boasts of 'Ridley Scott' style battle scenes, there really isn't a lot of fighting in the film. What there is is okay, but hardly cutting edge or dynamic.

This is a lavish tale of the life of Henry the Huguenot Prince of Navarre (Julien Boisselier), who goes on to become the King of France. It starts with the early life of Henri and includes a visit from Nostradamus, who predicts Henry for great things - well he would wouldn't he, always showing off like that. The problem is that the little kingdom of Navarre in South West France is protestant, the King who holds power in Paris is devoutly Catholic. As has been the case throughout history this leads to war.Henri is driven more by his mothers ambition, his early motivations coming from association with the peasants and a gift for the Gallic use of his tongue (and I don't mean oration). The King of France, Charles IX played with excessive verve by Ulrich Noether (Himmler from `Downfall) is also a puppet who is controlled by his nasty mum, the one Catherine de Medici (Hannelore Hoger). She is the power behind the throne and sets about an alliance with Navarre that will be sealed by the marriage of Henri to her wayward and rather slutty daughter, Margot. Henri jumps at the chance for more bedroom adventures and so takes to his new role with gusto. There is to be quite a bit of `gusto' there after especially when he meets his true love. That is the very beautiful Gabrielle d'Estrees (Chloe -I don't mind getting my kit off- Stefani).This is a long tale and was originally a German mini series with some co production from France, hence the mix of German and French actors. Some of the French is therefore dubbed, but I did not really notice and the rest is a mix of French, Italian and Latin. There is marvellous attention to detail with lovely touches like folk letting their pigs snout in the filth of the Paris streets. There is a large cast and more plot twists than a Victorian melodrama, but this is based on recorded history and so it all hangs together rather well. There are some over the top performances, but generally it is all well above average. Where it loses (Deutsh) Marks (rubbish pun) is on the battle scenes, I am quite sure there would have been more men on both sides for these major `battles'. Also there is one battle where we view it from inside a tent, now that is really scraping the barrel for money saving in a film and did spoil things a bit. This though is not an action film, but more a story of political and religious intrigue as well as tolerance, love and betrayal. There is a fair amount of blood letting but it is non gratuitous as this was made for TV.Director Jo Baier has done a good job and managed to hold my attention for the entire run of 157 minutes, but I did watch in two sittings and that might have helped. However if you like a costume, history based film then you really can't go wrong with this truly European offering.

Henri IV has an honoured place in French history and an excellent equestrian statue on the Pont Neuf. This film, which covers his life from childhood to an untimely death at the hands of an assassin, is always going to be overshadowed by the 1994 film La Reine Margot whose striking imagery and excellent players still invade my mind when I read of the Wars of Religion. Daniel Auteuil's rendition of the King of Navarre benefits from a longer nose than Julien Boisselier, and the basic plot of Dumas's novel has Heinrich Mann's beaten for sheer inventiveness. However, Henry of Navarre has its own moments with plenty of poisonings, assassinations and massacres, and (hurrah) the King does appear wearing his panache.The "Ridley Scott styled battle scenes" mentioned on the DVD sleeve are not much in evidence; this is not like Alatriste or Cyrano de Bergerac in this regard, indeed one battle takes place within (from the camera's point of view) the tent of the King's mistress with noises off and shadows on the tent - the sort of cost-saving device often used by the BBC. But that hardly matters as the essence of the film is the interactions between the key players.