Flawed beauty

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2000)

First off to get that out of the way, this film is widely inaccurate in historical terms. The events that take place in this film span about 30 years in history but you get the feeling all this happens in a year. Let alone the fact that some of the events and allegiances of characters are plain fabricated in order to tell a story. Here lies the biggest problem in this film. Changing history is not a problem, but coming up with a muddled storyline in the consequence is. The film is beautifully shot and acted but you get the feeling this was supposed to be a 3 hour movie which got killed in the editing room. Characters are never properly introduced and so come off one-dimensional up to and including miss Blanchett herself who has a real presence and is obviously a talented actress but never gets room (as the rest of the cast) to actually act. It's like the actors started a war against the cameraman and lost. The film therefore looks like a collection of beautifully framed pictures looking for a story to tell. If you don't have any interest in or knowledge of the period, I don't see how you can make heads or tails of it. A lot of the relations between characters are only implied or hinted at so some actions the characters take seem bewildering. Lots of cameos (Fanny Ardant as Marie de Guise is wonderful but what she actually wants is unclear as with her cross-dressing nephew de Duke of Anjou) The ending is preposterous and then you suddenly see why everything in this film is as it is. It is all to drive home a point so lame the writer should be burnt at the stake like the peasants at the start of the film. This film therefore leaves a one-dimensional aftertaste, like you have been reading a pamphlet for 2 hours which is very unsatisfying.