Queen Margot (film, 1994)

The film begins with the wedding scene of Margot and Heinrich of Navarre .

At the marriage ceremony in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the bride could not bring herself to say “yes”, and King Charles had to knock her on the back of the head. Involuntary exclamation was taken for consent.

The wedding, celebrated with great pomp, ended with the St. Bartholomew night , or “the bloody wedding of Paris” (August 24, 1572). Massacre is shown in detail. The blood, the mass of bloodied and disfigured bodies on the streets ... Margo rescues a wounded Protestant and falls in love with him. But they lose each other - she thinks that he died, and only some time later he learns that he (the name is silent) survived ...

In the end, the beloved Margot remains without a head - her brother, the king of France , sent a Protestant for execution. Soon he himself dies of poisoning, and the other brother Margo, Heinrich , becomes the new king.

Margo goes to the executioner and asks to embalm the body of her beloved, and she takes his head with him to Navarre .

• Isabelle Adjani - Margot
• Daniel Otoy - Heinrich of Navarre
• Jean-South Anglad - Charles IX
• Vincent Perez - La Mole
• Virna Lizi - Catherine Medici
• Dominic Blanc - Henrietta Neverskaya
• Pascal Greggory - Heinrich of Anjou
• Miguel Bose - Herzog de Guise
• Thomas Kretschmann - Nançe
• Asia Argento - Charlotte de Sov
• Jean-Claude Briali - Admiral Coligny
• Bruno Todeschini - Armagnac
• Claudio Amendola - Kokonnas
• Julien Rassam - Francois, Duke of Alencon and Angevin
• Vladimir Kotlyarov - Executioner ^[1]
• Delilah Karma

The film is only in general terms related to the plot of the novel of the same name by Alexander Dumas, rather freely interpreting it. However, the novel’s plot itself has little connection with the real biographies of Lerac de la Mole and Annibal de Coconnas . In fact, both were minions of François, duke of Anjou , who betrayed them in exchange for forgiveness for participating in the 1574 conspiracy against Henry III, who had just ascended the French throne. Both were executed for taking part in the plot.

The wedding of historical Margaret and Heinrich did not take place in a Catholic cathedral, but on a platform in front of him, since Heinrich was a Protestant. There could not be so many clergy present at the wedding, as shown in the film — Queen Catherine de Medici was very inclined to persuade Cardinal Charles de Bourbon (the only Catholic in the Bourbon family) to marry a couple without the permission of the Pope of Rome.

The mistress of Heinrich of Navarre, Charlotte de Sov , was not killed, she died only in 1617, having outlived the majority of other characters in the novel.

The release of the film remained in the memory of film experts as one of the historic watersheds. ^{[2] The} tape, in which the XVI century French courtiers express themselves in modern youth jargon , reminding the critics of " punks ", and wearing fluffy costumes with mesenchies are torn underwear, "marked the fall of the last stronghold of exquisite costume art in cinema - a historical genre." ^[2] Refusing to approach the classics as an archivist "in gloves", Shero said that he was shooting "anything, but not a historical film" in the traditional sense of the word. ^[3] The audience in Cannes "Queen Margot" won unheard of for big-budget costume film frankness in the demonstration "flesh and blood": especially a lot of controversy provoked a bloody ballet of St. Bartholomew and the intricacies of incest in the family of Valois , and the meeting of the royal family, headed by the sinister florentiykoy reminded M. Trofimenkovo meetings of the Italian mafia . ^[3] “Queen Margot” marked the beginning of fashion for the latent up-to-date historical realities, which were continued by such tapes as “ Marie-Antoinette ” (2006), “ Princess de Montpensier ” (2010), etc.

Among the fans of the film is Austrian director M. Haneke . In his film The Time of the Wolves , Chereau played one of the main roles, and the script for the film The Hidden was written specifically for D. Otoy. For the movie “ White Ribbon ” Haneke costumes prepared by Muadel Bikel . “I hired her because she worked on costumes for Queen Margot, the best I've seen in the movie. She skillfully creates the necessary patina, the feeling that this clothing has already been worn, ”says Haneke ^[4] .

• Queen Margot (film, 1954)
• Queen Margot (TV series)

• “Queen Margot” (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database
• Queen Margot (eng.) On the site allmovie