The Princess of Montpensier
Encyclopedia
- For the original short story, see The Princess of Montpensier (novella)The Princess of Montpensier (novella)The Princess of Montpensier is a short story or novella by Madame de La Fayette, published anonymously in 1662, just after her La Princesse de Clèves - both tell of adulterous love affairs where the heroine falls in love with someone other than her husband...
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The Princess of Montpensier is a 2010 French period romance film
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
directed by Bertrand Tavernier
Bertrand Tavernier
Bertrand Tavernier is a French director, screenwriter, actor, and producer.-Life and career:Tavernier was born in Lyon, the son of Geneviève and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, several years president of the French PEN club. Tavernier wanted to become a filmmaker since the age of thirteen...
, inspired by a short story anonymously published by Madame de La Fayette. It stars Mélanie Thierry
Mélanie Thierry
Mélanie Thierry, is a French actress best known to international audiences for her role as Aurora in the 2008 film Babylon A.D.-Biography:...
in the title role, alongside Gaspard Ulliel
Gaspard Ulliel
Gaspard Ulliel is a French film actor and model. He began appearing in made-for-television films during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and then began to be known as a film actor in France, as well as starring in the title role in the thriller Hannibal Rising.-Life and career:Ulliel was born in...
, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet is a French actor.-Theatrical:Between 1998 and 2002, he was a member of the choir at the Opéra National de Paris.-Movie:...
, Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
and Raphaël Personnaz. The story takes place in the French aristocracy during the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
, and focuses on a young woman who is forced into marriage while passionately in love with another man. The film competed at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
and was released in French cinemas on 3 November 2010.
Cast
- Mélanie ThierryMélanie ThierryMélanie Thierry, is a French actress best known to international audiences for her role as Aurora in the 2008 film Babylon A.D.-Biography:...
as Marie de Mézières - Gaspard UllielGaspard UllielGaspard Ulliel is a French film actor and model. He began appearing in made-for-television films during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and then began to be known as a film actor in France, as well as starring in the title role in the thriller Hannibal Rising.-Life and career:Ulliel was born in...
as Duke de GuiseHenry I, Duke of GuiseHenry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este... - Grégoire Leprince-RinguetGrégoire Leprince-RinguetGrégoire Leprince-Ringuet is a French actor.-Theatrical:Between 1998 and 2002, he was a member of the choir at the Opéra National de Paris.-Movie:...
as Prince de MontpensierFrançois, Duke of MontpensierFrançois de Bourbon was the Duke of Montpensier and member of the House of Bourbon. He was the brother of Charlotte de Bourbon, Princess of Orange and wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange... - Lambert WilsonLambert WilsonLambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
as Count de Chabannes - Raphaël Personnaz as Duke d'AnjouHenry III of FranceHenry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
- Michel Vuillermoz as Duke de Montpensier
- Anatole De Bodinat as Joyeuse
- Éric Rulliat as Quelus
- Samuel Théis as La Valette
- Judith Chemla as Catherine de Guise
- Philippe Magnan as Marquis de Mézières
- César Domboy as Mayenne
- Jean-Pol Dubois as Cardinal de Lorraine
- Florence Thomassin as Marquise de Mézières
Production
Unusually for a Bertrand Tavernier project, the director was not attached from the very start. When he became involved, there was already a first version of a screenplay ready, written by François-Olivier Rousseau. However, with his usual co-writer Jean Cosmos, Tavernier went back to the original source in order to adapt the script to his own vision. The screenplay was not an entirely faithful adaptation of the original short story, published anonymously in 1662. "Mme de La Fayette, who was from the 17th century, wrote about the 16th. Knowing that the 17th century had become very puritanical, while the 16th was not, we removed some filters, but never bent the feelings portrayed", Tavernier explained in Le FigaroLe Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
.
The film was produced by Paradis Films. It received co-production support from StudioCanal
StudioCanal
StudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
, the television channels France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
and France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
and the German company Pandora. Additional funding was provided by the National Center of Cinematography and the Deutsch-Französische Förderkommission. The budget was 13.35 million euro.
Costumes were made in Italy and England. An inspiration for the costume design was the 1994 film La Reine Margot
La Reine Margot (1994 film)
La Reine Margot is a 1994 French period film directed by Patrice Chéreau, based on the 1845 historical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, père. It stars Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Virna Lisi and Vincent Pérez...
, which is set during the same period. What Tavernier liked about the film was how casual the costumes were, and not at all based on the ceremonial clothing seen in paintings from 16th century. Horses were brought to the set from Paris. Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz were the only actors with previous riding experience, and all main actors were prepared for their roles by being given riding lessons.
Filming started 28 September 2009 and lasted nine weeks, in the city Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
and the regions Centre and Cantal
Cantal
Cantal is a department in south-central France. It is named after the Cantal mountain range, a group of extinct, eroded volcanic peaks, which covers much of the department. Residents are known as Cantaliens or Cantalous....
. Filming locations included the Château de Blois
Château de Blois
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her...
and Château de Messilhac, with more than 100 people working permanently on the sets. For the riding scenes, a steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...
was placed on a motorcycle or a small car in order to provide freedom of movement for the riders. Tavernier drew inspiration from old Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
films, where important conversations often take place on horseback. The lighting was inspired by film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, as the director primarily aimed to create an atmosphere of emotional tension, "not imitate paintings or pictorial reconstruction". The film was shot in Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
and contains no artificial special effects or computer-generated imagery.
Release
The film premiered on 16 May as part of the main competition of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
. StudioCanal released it in 384 French cinemas on 3 November the same year. Distribution rights for the United States were bought in Cannes by IFC Films
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
, which releases it on 1 April 2011. The release in the United Kingdom is set to July 8, 2011, The film was released in the United States on April 14, 2011.
Reception
François-Guillaume Lorrain reviewed the film for Le PointLe Point
Le Point is a French weekly news magazine. It was founded in 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of L'Express, which was then owned by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a député of the Parti Radical...
and was impressed by the adaptation: "Tavernier knows how to give breath, get rid of dust, be modern, without ever sullying the original". Lorrain complimented the performances of Wilson, Vuillermoz, Personnaz and Leprince-Ringuet, and wrote that the film "reconciles the taste of unbound feelings and sharp blades". Léo Soesanto of Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...
was less enthusiastic and described the film as "the wars of religion in a teen movie". He did think it had a certain sense of fresh air and lucidity, but that "the flamboyant feelings and the battles are freeze-dried", which only left an impression of emptiness. It received the top rating of three stars in Le Parisien
Le Parisien
Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It was established as Le Parisien libéré by Émilien Amaury in 1944, and the name was changed to the current one in 1986...
, where Marie Sauvion wrote: "The beauty of the images, of the costumes, the delight of a dusted off romance, of an inspiring troupe of actors, of amazing supporting roles ... , all of this contributes to make The Princess of Montpensier an ambitious and poignant film."
In the U.S., the film has received largely favorable reviews, including one from Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
.
See also
- French literature of the 17th centuryFrench literature of the 17th century17th-century French literature was written throughout the Grand Siècle of France, spanning the reigns of Henry IV of France, the Regency of Marie de Medici, Louis XIII of France, the Regency of Anne of Austria and the reign of Louis XIV of France...
- Duchy of Montpensier
- Counts and Dukes of Guise
- House of Valois