page_title: The Princess of Montpensier
section_title: Plot
hierarchical_section_title: The Princess of Montpensier / Plot
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Henri Ier de Lorraine (1550-1588), 3ème duc de Guise en 1566, dit le Balafré, chef de la Ligue (1550-1558)
context_page_description: The Princess of Montpensier is a 2010 French period romance film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, inspired by the novel of the same name published anonymously by Madame de La Fayette in 1662. It stars Mélanie Thierry in the title role, alongside Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz.
  The film mixes fiction and history in the years of bloody conflict known as the Wars of Religion, which not only opposed Catholics with Protestants but also involved bitter power struggles between factions of the nobility and the royal family. The culminating event is the St Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572, during which mobs of armed Catholics hunted down and slaughtered thousands of their Protestant neighbours. Amid these dramatic events, the central story is that of the Princess, who loves a childhood friend but is forced into marriage with another man and is in turn loved by her older tutor. The film competed at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and was released in French cinemas on 3 November 2010.
context_section_description: Sickened at the meaningless bloodshed between Catholics and Protestants in the Wars of Religion, the Count of Chabannes decides to desert. Captured by bandits who are about to hang him, he is rescued by his former pupil, the Prince of Montpensier. The two ride to the castle of the Mézières family, where the prince's father has been negotiating a bride for his son. This is Marie, who is on intimate terms with her childhood friend, the powerful Duke of Guise. When Guise is outraged to hear that Marie is to be given to Montpensier, Chabannes tries to reconcile the two fiery young men who have drawn swords.
  After the marriage the newly-wed couple go with Chabannes to the Montpensier castle and, on the way, Chabannes confesses to Marie his disgust over the wars and his part in them. Montpensier then has to go with his parents to the royal court in Paris, leaving Marie in the care of Chabannes as her tutor. The lonely bride and the disillusioned count become very close, so much so that he admits to her that he loves her.
  
  Montpensier returns home for a while but is summoned again to Paris. Chabannes takes the letter into the bedroom where the couple are asleep naked, and Marie does not attempt to cover herself. Before Montpensier goes, Guise appears on their estate with his cousin the Duke of Anjou, heir to the childless and ailing King Charles IX. The two see Marie in a boat on the river and Anjou too is struck by her beauty. Invited into the castle for dinner, there is tense conversation between the four men (Anjou, Guise, Montpensier and Chabannes), all now in love with Marie.
  All go to Paris where, when Guise starts talking intimately to Marie, Montpensier surprises them and swords are drawn. This time it is Anjou who breaks up the fight. Guise then catches Marie on a staircase and starts making love to her, but she breaks away. She tells Chabannes, who advises her to keep well clear of Guise.
  She still wants to see him, and at a masked ball asks him to meet her on the same staircase. However, the man behind the mask is not Guise but Anjou, who immediately finds Guise and tells him to stay away from Marie. He then finds Marie and warns her against Guise. Her husband, furious at what is going on, puts her in the care of Chabannes, to be taken back to the country in the morning. That night, Guise puts a dagger to Chabannes' throat and demands to see Marie. Once admitted, he declares his love and warns her against Anjou but, hearing blows on the locked door, then escapes. Montpensier breaks in and, furious to find Chabannes in her bedroom, kicks him out and departs. Guise then slips back in and has a night of love with Marie.
  
  Marie rides home alone, while the even more disillusioned Chabannes takes a room in an inn. But it is the evening of 24 August 1572 and, as Catholic mobs led by Guise start massacring all Protestants, he dies protecting a pregnant woman. Montpensier rides to see Marie, telling her that Chabannes is dead, that Anjou is going away to Poland and that Guise is getting married at Blois the next day. She rides immediately to Blois and tells Guise that she is ready to leave Montpensier for him, but he says he must keep his engagement. She remembers the last words to her of Chabannes: “As you have lost the trust of your husband and the heart of your lover, at least you have my true friendship.” Dressed in black, through a snow-covered landscape, she rides to his tomb.
caption: Henri, duc de Guise
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