Queen Margot (La reine Margot)

Wednesday 6 May at 7.00pm (note early start) –  Open to the Public 

Patrice Chéreau | France/Germany/Italy | 1994 | 161 mins | R16 violence & sex scenes

In co-operation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France.

Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants – from the 1845 novel by Alexandre Dumas.

“Chéreau’s highest-profile film was also his biggest departure: a lavish, blood-spattered, gold-spangled costume drama starring a trio of French superstars (Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, and Vincent Perez). In the heat of the 17th-century Wars of Religion, the ruthless French queen Catherine de Medici (Virna Lisi) gives up her daughter Margot (Adjani) in marriage to the prominent Huguenot Henri of Navarre (Auteuil) as a peace offering —while secretly arranging for the mass slaughter of thousands of Protestants. Margot soon falls for a dashing Protestant soldier (Perez); bodice-ripping love scenes, court intrigue, poisonings and beheadings ensue. Chéreau captures it all with gleeful, operatic bravado, setting the movie at a pitch delirious enough to elevate it far beyond traditional period-piece territory. This is a “restored and enriched” version of the film, which debuted [2013] at Cannes in the festival’s Classics section.” – Film Society Lincoln Center