''La Reine Margot'' is a 1994 historical

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film directed by

Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ...

, from a screenplay he co-wrote with

Danièle Thompson Danièle Thompson (born 3 January 1942) is a Monegasque film director and screenwriter. Thompson is the daughter of film director Gérard Oury, and actress Jacqueline Roman. She has written screenplays for a number of highly successful films i ...

, based on the 1845 historical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas. The film stars

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmina Adjani ; born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She is the only performer in history to win five César Awards for acting; she won the Best Actress award for '' Possession'' (1981), '' ...

Daniel Auteuil Daniel Auteuil (; born 24 January 1950) is a French actor and director who has appeared in a wide range of film genres, including period dramas, romantic comedies, and crime thrillers. In 1996 he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Fest ...

Jean-Hugues Anglade Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 29 July 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, known for his roles as Eric in ''Killing Zoe'', Zorg in ''Betty Blue'' and Marco, the boyfriend of Nikita in '' Nikita''. Personal life Anglade was born ...

Vincent Perez Vincent Perez (born 10 June 1964) is a Swiss actor, director and photographer. He played the title character, Ashe Corven, in '' The Crow: City of Angels'', and starred in '' Queen of the Damned'', playing Marius de Romanus. Some of his films i ...

and

Virna Lisi Verna or Virna may refer to: People * Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books * Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress * Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter * Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian reti ...

. An abridged version of the film was released as ''Queen Margot'' in North America, and in the United Kingdom under its original French title. It won the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

and Best Actress Award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, as well as five César Awards. A restored version was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...

Plot

During the late 16th century, Catholics and Protestant

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

are fighting over political control of France, which is ruled by the neurotic,

hypochondriac Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...

King Charles IX, and his mother, Catherine de' Medici, a scheming power player. Catherine decides to make an overture of goodwill by offering up her daughter

Margot Margot (; ) is a feminine French given name, a variant of Marguerite. It is also occasionally a surname. Persons named Margot include the following: People with the given name Margot * Margot Asquith, countess of Oxford and Asquith * Marguerite ...

in marriage to Henri de Bourbon, a prominent Huguenot and

King of Navarre This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the ...

, although she also schemes to bring about the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, when thousands of Protestants are slaughtered. The marriage goes forward but Margot, who does not love Henri, begins a passionate affair with the soldier

La Môle La Mole (; oc, La Mòla) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. See also *Communes of the Var department The following is a list of the 153 communes of the Var department of Fr ...

, also a Protestant from a well-to-do family. Murders by poisoning follow, as court intrigues multiply and Queen Catherine's villainous plotting to place her son the Duke of Anjou on the throne threatens the lives of La Môle, Margot and Henri of Navarre. A book with pages painted with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...

is intended for Henri but instead causes the slow, agonizing death of King Charles. Henri escapes to Navarre and sends La Môle to fetch Margot, but Guise apprehends him. La Môle is beheaded in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

before Margot can save him, and King Charles finally dies. Margot escapes carrying La Môle's embalmed head as Anjou is proclaimed King of France as Henry III.

Cast

Production

The film was an international co-production between by several companies based in France, Germany, and Italy, with the additional participation of

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

and the American company Miramax and the support of

Eurimages Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages ...

. Among the locations were the

Mafra Palace The Palace of Mafra ( pt, Palácio de Mafra), also known as the Palace-Convent of Mafra and the Royal Building of Mafra (), is a monumental Baroque and Neoclassical palace-monastery located in Mafra, Portugal, some 28 kilometres from Lisbon. ...

in Portugal, the Saint-Quentin Basilica, Saint-Quentin, Aisne, and the Château de Maulnes, Cruzy-le-Châtel in France. The organ piece played during the wedding of

Margaret of Valois Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...

and Henri de Bourbon was recorded by

Pierre Pincemaille Pierre-Marie François Pincemaille (8 December 1956 – 12 January 2018) was a French organist, improviser, and pedagogue. He was known for his organ improvisations, both in concert and on CD and for his recordings of Charles-Marie Widor's ...

on the organ of the

Basilica of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

Soundtrack

The ''La Reine Margot'' soundtrack was composed by Sarajevo-born composer

Goran Bregović Goran Bregović (born 22 March 1950) is a recording artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Slavic-speaking countries in the Balkans, and is one of the few former Yug ...

. Like most of Bregović's work, the soundtrack's melodies are heavily influenced by the

Balkan folk music Balkan folk music is the traditional folk music within Balkan region. It's also known as narodna muzika ( Bulgarian, Macedonian, sr-cyr, народна музика), also folk muzika (фолк музика) means folk music in the South Slavic la ...

tradition. Additionally, Bregović refurbished some of his previous work while as the frontman of Yugoslav rock band

Bijelo dugme Bijelo Dugme (trans. ''White Button'') was a Yugoslav rock band, formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. Bijelo Dugme is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in the former Socialist Federal Republic ...

Track listing

# "Elo Hi (Canto Nero)" (feat.

Ofra Haza Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza ( he, בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000), known as Ofra Haza (), was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actress, and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist commonly known in the Western world as ...

) - based on ''Kada odem, kad me ne bude'' (chorus) by Bijelo Dugme # "Rondinella" (feat.

Zdravko Čolić Zdravko Čolić (, ; born 30 May 1951) is a Bosnian Serb singer and is widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and cultural icons of the former Yugoslavia. Dubbed the "Tom Jones of the Balkans", he has garnered fame in Southeastern Europe ...

) # "La Nuit De La Saint Barthélémy" (feat. Zdravko Čolić) # "Le Matin" (feat. Vasilisa) # "Lullaby" # "Ruda Neruda" (feat. Zdravko Čolić) # "U te sam se zaljubija" # "La Chasse" # "Margot" # "Rencontre" # "Marguerite De Valois Et Henri De Navarre" # "Le Mariage" # "La Nuit" (feat. Dusan Prelevic) - based on ''Ružica'' by Bijelo Dugme # "Elo Hi" (feat. Ofra Haza)

Release

The film opened on 13 May 1994 at the

1994 Cannes Film Festival The 47th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1994. The Palme d'Or went to the American film '' Pulp Fiction'' directed by Quentin Tarantino. The festival opened with '' The Hudsucker Proxy'', directed by Joel Coen and closed with ''S ...

and also opened nationally in France the same day. The version shown at Cannes and for the French theatrical run had a runtime of 162 minutes. For the film’s North American release, the film's American distributor Miramax chose to market the film as a traditional

costume drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

, with an emphasis on the romance between Margot and La Môle. Fifteen minutes were cut from Chéreau’s version and a deleted scene of Margot and La Môle wrapped in a red cloak was reinserted. This version was shown in cinemas outside France and later on video. Miramax also changed the image on the poster; the American one features the red cloak scene of the pair of lovers, in contrast to the French poster which shows a shocked Margot in a white dress bespattered with blood. The film grossed over $1.29 million in the U.S. in 1994. The original full-length version was available for a limited period in the United Kingdom on VHS in a collectors' edition box set in 1995, but all further releases until the blu-ray rerelease in 2014 used the shorter 145-minute cut. The Region 2 European DVD cover also uses the original poster.

Reception

The film grossed 12.7 million French Francs ($2.2 million) in its first five days in France. The following week it was the number one film in France after expanding from 248 to 428 screens. The film had a total of 2,002,915 admissions in France, for a gross of $12.26 million. In Italy, the film grossed over $2 million. In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $2,017,346 in a limited theatrical release. It had admissions of 260,000 in Germany with a gross of $1.33 million and 530,800 admissions in Argentina."Box office / business for ''La Reine Margot'' (1994)"
IMDb.com It was the highest-grossing non-English language film in the UK during 1995 with a gross of £635,711 ($980,000). In Australia it grossed $890,000. Worldwide, it has grossed over $20 million.

Year-end lists

* Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Clark, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

Accolades

Re-release

For the film's 20th anniversary, Pathé restored Patrice Chéreau’s original 162-minute cut to 4k definition, and this version was given a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

by the

Cohen Media Group Charles S. Cohen (born February 8, 1952) is an American real estate developer and film distributor. Early life and education Cohen was raised in a Jewish family in Harrison, New York. He is the son of Gloria and Sherman Cohen and nephew to Eddi ...

in 2014. This version received more critical praise than the 1994 Miramax cut, which critics said was confusing and did not give enough time for American audiences to digest various characters and plot lines. Peter Sobzcynski, writing for RogerEbert.com, said the film is a "go-for-broke, blood-and-thunder saga that is as powerful and provocative today as it was when it was first released—even more so now that it has been returned to its full length", and the fact that it is one of the most expensive French films ever made shows onscreen. Scott Tobias of ''

The Dissolve ''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...

'' praised Isabelle Adjani for portraying Margot "as a figure of prismatic emotional and moral complexity, at times aggressive and seemingly reckless in pursuing her romantic and sexual interests, and at others cunning and shrewd in playing the middle of two sides locked in conflict." He noted her "uninhibited performance figures into Chéreau’s approach to history, which couldn’t be further from the decorous reserve and pageantry of other such costume epics." Sobzcynski also commended the film for putting its female characters at the forefront of the plot.

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote Virna Lisi "gives a harrowing performance as the poisonous Queen Mother." Robert Abele of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote, "Chéreau’s and screenwriter Danièle Thompson’s lively adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel remains a model of heaving, combustible history, in which period lavishness and performance energy aren’t mutually exclusive. Splendidly acted and tautly executed." The restoration was released on Blu-ray on August 26, 2014, with a new commentary track by the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

's director emeritus

Richard Peña Richard Peña (born 1953) is a Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia University School of The Arts. He was formerly program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center (organizers of the New York Film Festival and the New Direc ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reine Margot, La 1994 films 1994 romantic drama films 1990s historical drama films 1990s historical romance films Cultural depictions of Catherine de' Medici Cultural depictions of Henry I, Duke of Guise Cultural depictions of Henry III of France Films based on French novels Films based on works by Alexandre Dumas Films directed by Patrice Chéreau Films featuring a Best Actress César Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor César Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress César Award-winning performance Films produced by Claude Berri Films scored by Goran Bregović Films set in the 1570s Films set in France French historical drama films French historical romance films 1990s French-language films French romantic drama films German historical drama films German historical romance films German romantic drama films Incest in film Italian historical drama films Italian historical romance films 1990s Italian-language films Italian romantic drama films Miramax films 1994 multilingual films French multilingual films German multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1990s French films 1990s German films