Queen Margot

I was about to go to bed and made the mistake(nah, it wasn't a mistake)of leaving the television on(the remote was next to me)as I was setting the timer for another movie(showing later, Roman Polanski's GHOST WRITER).

But, director Patrice Chéreau's QUEEN MARGOT grabbed my attention and never let go. This production blew me away. The way he captures a particular kingdom in France during a tumultuous time where two religious sections in Parisian society were at each others' throats. There's an overwhelming hatred and animosity between the Catholics(who have the power)and lowly Protestants considered a scourge in the city.



I think it's clear which side the movie's on, the Protestants led by Henri de Navarre(Daniel Auteuil with a prosthetic beak; who is fantastic)gain our sympathy after this great slaughter which is shown in all it's bloody(and pretty lengthly)detail.



To supposedly bring about peace between the people, Henri marries the deceased king of France's daughter, Margot(Isabelle Adjani; is this woman ever NOT impossibly beautiful in a movie?!). Later we discover that it was a concocted scheme by Margot's mother, Catherine de Médicis(Virna Lisi)to free France of the Protestants by placing them in a vulnerable position, preparing her Catholics for a sadistic unprovoked attack.



Catherine has two sons, Charles IX(Jean-Hugues Anglade) and Anjou(Pascal Greggory)who she wants to see in position as king of France. Catherine awaits a child's birth from one of them, although it appears that Charles is homosexual. Anjou takes the position, but he secretly admires and likes the peasants(even having a lover and child with a woman he keeps hidden from Catherine)soon cherishing a friendship with Henri.

Henri wants Margot and him to become allies not enemies..they both acknowledge their marriage as a falsity merely for show. Margot meets a Protestant on the street during one of her days "out on the town", La Môle(Vincent Perez), finding an instant attraction, fucking him against a back alley wall not long after.

At first, it's lust, but eventually a strong, passionate affair will spark between them, particularly after she saves him from certain death on that horrible night, when all of his people are slaughtered, the streets bathed in blood, bodies torn asunder. While La Môle is able to flee(..thanks to Margot's intervention and through the kindness of an executioner who hides him amongst the bodies to be carried away), Henri takes the Catholic oath at Margot's advice to keep himself alive, if just for a little while.

Here's where the movie really got to cooking for me. I mean, the slaughter is as shocking and cruel as can be depicted, the way swords are drawn as crowds of Catholics gang up on unsuspecting Protestants, picking them off in droves, Paris littered with corpses. But, when La Môle escapes and Henri fears for his life at every turn, few allies as Catherine tries every way in her power to kill him(poison which backfires to say the least multiple times), the movie takes on a new dimension.

Already estranged from her family, Margot was barely a member of this brood and she begins aligning herself with Henri, even making love to him at one point! Margot's heart is for La Môle, though, and she sneaks away when she can to meet him. La Môle is truly the film's hero. He upended the leader of the wave of violence which overtook the Protestants and risks his well being in an attempt to take Margot out of Paris to be with him. Henri, always looking over his shoulder, nervous as can be expected, wondering when attempts on his life will be carried out. These are two very different men in Margot's life..and her life is more than a bit complicated.

I really enjoyed the presentation of this movie, and was thrilled at how chaotic this time in France(..with all the people everywhere, so much activity as gatherings and multitudes converge after the opening wedding, so congested, men and women could barely walk without bumping into each other, you literally see many circling their wagons just to find a place to move about)is shown. Batches of Catholics and Protestants, schemes and gossip, questions and murmurings, we get an idea at how divided this city was..it was only a matter of time before war would break out. I think it came down to who would strike first and when.

The way Chéreau evokes this period, it really feels like you have revisited a turbulent time in France when all was not calm and right in the world. There's a decadence and liberality that surprised me. I visualized France as I would picture Sodom, and that's interesting in that everyone speaks about how God guides them, yet the sin and debauchery that exists is palpable. Both sides believe God is for them and they kill in his name..kind of ironic to me, how a deity that presents right the opposite of how these people act is proclaimed as leading them against one another.

Bottom line is Catherine doesn't want the Protestants in her city, finding them nothing but repulsive peasants, and desires the kingdom and all the power that comes with it. She is ultimately the one that rules from the throne even though her sons recieve the mantle as King. You always see her cast in a malicious light, calling the shots in pernicious ways, and suffers for her antics, a son paying the price in the desire to rid the kingdom of Henri(who could fall in line as king if something wasn't done about him).

Asia Argento, if you were wondering, is Charlotte, living in the castle and in love with Henri..she could be the pawn Catherine needs to get to Henri, in a malevolent way, to possibly poison Henri(Charlotte is a supporter of the Protestants in a roundabout way). She is so young and astonishingly lovely in this movie, not like her more cutting-edge/edgy roles she would later portray after this one.

There are plenty of shocking moments to find here besides the slaughter such as a poisoning so strong it causes the victim to sweat blood and die a slow, agonizing death. La Môle's wounds are devastating and Vincent Perez ably shows how painful his suffering was. One poor victim, with poisoned lip blush, twists and convulses in a quick but terrible demise. The director takes us behind the scenes, into the rooms, and we see how characters plot and form partnerships, until tragic deaths change the shape of France.