the audience applauded

Pretty Good

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

*** spoilers *** I like historic movies very much and was made curious by the cover of this DVD, not knowing anything of the mentioned historic persons and circumstances, while the contribution of Timothy Dalton rendered a reassuring feeling of quality and trustworthiness. Well, I was not disappointed where he was concerned, Timothy Dalton gives an extremely strong performance of a king who is torn between his duty, his lust and his royal rights. This king is bored and frustrated by the servility and flattery of his court but at the same time lives up to it and considers his "droit the seigneur" as something of a God-given right. When he is crossed in this expectancy by the strong will and pride of an attractive married lady at his court, his lust turns into obsession. The story gives a fair insight in what happened in so many royal courts in those days, be it Italian, English, French or where ever: the kings sexual wish is as good as a command, and infidelity (on both sides) turns into a sophisticated and strategic game, where on the side of the elected party much is to be gained and lost (to the extent of their fortunes and lives!). The reluctance of Jeanne, who really loves her husband, is quite understandable, and it's almost appalling to witness her family-in-law pressure her to submit to the king, which she eventually does when finally even her own husband prefers the kings favour over his marital loyalty. Apart from the stunning performance of Timothy Dalton (for which alone this movie is worth watching!) and the interesting historic premise of this story, there are unfortunately much flaws in the movie. To begin with, the English dubbing of almost all of the actors is very annoying, to me it seemed as if the English voices they used were often not suited at all to the persons they were supposed to be and it sounded mostly like people reading their lines in a radio-play. The main flaw however was the part of Jeanne, played by Valeria Golino. She's a very gifted actress, I saw here recently in "Respiro", in which she really excels and has a very extrovert part (I can strongly recommend that movie!), but here (when she was much younger of course) she plays her part like a monosyllabic wooden doll, most of the time being very angry with the whole world and giving everyone (including the king) the evil eye and snubs and contempt. You never see her laugh or even smile once and although she's very attractive, this makes it very hard to understand the all-consuming obsession the king has with her, even after he finally got his way with her, and why he didn't kick her out of his bed afterwards and traded her in for a funnier playmate (with his looks and his royal rights that shouldn't have been any problem!). This brings me to the script (or the book that it was based on), I just couldn't believe the things happening! Jeanne hated her husband for not protecting her against the king and she took revenge on him and her family-in-law (so far I could understand it). But why on earth did she suddenly tried to escape from the king and ran back to her hated husband at the very moment that she discovers in herself that she may really love the king; and why did she run back to the king after he (the king) had killed her husband, and why did he (the king – are you still with me??) all of a sudden NOT want to take her back, notwithstanding the fact that she, being a widow now, was at last free and available?!? The movie gives us beautiful photography of Italian (?) surroundings and sumptuous palaces, obviously shot in authentic places, and a fair share of appealing costumes. But the historic backgrounds of the story are obscure and unfathomable, like where on earth is this little kingdom and then there were some wars that apparently were going on between some countries that we never get explained very much. The lasting feeling after viewing this movie is two-fold: one of disappointment, since it could have been so much more and better, and one of great praise for Timothy Dalton, who proves here what a great and impressive character-actor he really is, in spite of the fact that he too must have felt that he was fighting a lost cause. As for this project, he deserved much better!!

Timothy Dalton does it again! As I become a bigger fan of his I am amazed at the depth and emotion he lends to his characters. This movie has some plot weaknesses which I cannot decide if would be corrected by less or more film. Bravo to Timothy Dalton. His range of emotion is fantastic. Even when not speaking he conveys so much as when Jeanne finally comes to him. Dalton also continues to show off his sword prowess with a very complex scene near the end. Worth seeing!

I'm anxious to see Timothy Dalton in anything he does, but this movie was not worth my time. I hung in there until the end more out of optimism that it would improve than enjoyment. Basically the king is a controlling dog and Jeanne is a, well, you know. This movie is going into the "waste of my time" category. If you want to see Timothy Dalton at his finest, rent the BBC production of Jane Eyre--now THAT is a film.

This movie was simply long and drawn out. Its plot was extremely shaky and the acting was less then exceptional. Basically it is about a King who in his wise decision-making decides to take on a lady(who he falls in love with). The lady was supposed to be wed to someone else, so things get messed up. The movie goes through their lives and shows the final end. I would not bother seeing it though, I almost fell asleep.