''Tirant lo Blanc'' (also known as ''The Maidens' Conspiracy'') is a 2006 historical adventure film directed by

Vicente Aranda Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member ...

and starring Casper Zafer, Esther Nubiola and

Victoria Abril Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by ...

. The script was written by Aranda based on ''

Tirant lo Blanch ''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an ...

'', a

Valencian language Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Cat ...

chivalry romance dating to 1490, written by

Joanot Martorell Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel '' Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the ...

. It presents a highly fictionalized alternate history narrative of the events leading to the Fall of Constantinople.

Plot

In 1401,

Tirant lo Blanc ''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an ...

, a famous knight, arrives with his small but battle-hardened troops of

Almogavars Almogavars ( es, almogávares, an, almugávares, ca, almogàvers and pt, almogávares ar, Al-Mugavari) is the name of a class of light infantry soldier originated in the Crown of Aragon used in the later phases of the Reconquista, during th ...

, to the port of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. The emperor's only son has recently been killed by the Turks and the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

is too old to lead his army in battle. Constantinople is under threat of an Ottoman invasion and therefore it is in desperate need of a skillful military leader. Upon arrival, Tirant is received by the emperor who makes him commander in chief of the Imperial army. After he is presented to the empress, Tirant catches a glimpse of the breasts of the emperor's only surviving child, nosebleed-prone daughter Carmesina. A fanciful teenager who has just turned nubile, the beautiful Carmesina is also quickly smitten by the brave and handsome Tirant. Carmesina confides her love for Tirant to her guardian Ines, nicknamed the 'Placid Widow', whose late husband was an ally of the anti-pope. The Placid Widow immediately puts down Carmensina's romantic dreams. As brave and skilful military leader as Tirant might be, he is neither of royal blood nor has a fortune of his own to aspire to marry the heiress of the empire. Carmesina's friends and confidantes, her maidens: Pleasure-of-My-Life and Estefania, think otherwise. Scared of a possible Ottoman invasion, Pleasure-of-My-Life, the daughter of the court's poet, encourages Carmesina interest in Tirant as she is to inherit the throne and he is going to defend it. Estefania, another lady-in-waiting, supports Tirant's affair with Carmesina because she has fallen in love with Tirant's right-hand man Diafebus. Meanwhile, the Empress contemplates that Constantinople stands no chance against Ottoman onslaught and sees her daughter's marriage to the Sultan as the sole way to accommodate him. In his first battle against the troops of Ottoman sultan

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV ( ota, محمد رابع, Meḥmed-i rābi; tr, IV. Mehmed; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693) also known as Mehmed the Hunter ( tr, Avcı Mehmed) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the a ...

, Tirant scores a triumph, but he returns to the Byzantine court with a wound in one shoulder and with the Ottoman threat still looming over Constantinople. Pleasure-of-My-Life tries to consolidate Tirant's romance with the princess awakening Carmesina's desire for him. She tells the princess about a sensual dream in which Carmesina was involved with Tirant while Estefania was having sex with Diafebus. Meanwhile, the Placid Widow wants Tirant for herself, but he rebuffs her sexual advances. Estefania, now engaged to Diafebus, and Pleasure-of-My-Life let Tirant secretly enter Carmesina's bedchamber. The princess is half sleep and Tirant begins to caress her. When Carmesina becomes aware of Tirant's presence, she screams awakening the court. Tirant flees through a window of the tower with the help of a rope. The rope is too short and he is forced to jump from a great height breaking one of his legs. The next day, Tirant tries to hide what had occurred, simulating a fall from a horse, but he breaks his other leg and ends up bedridden. Meanwhile, the Empress begins an affair with Hippolytus, a young member of Tirant's entourage. The couple barely escapes being found together in bed by the emperor. An Ottoman emissary arrives at the Byzantine court to ask for Carmesina's hand in marriage for Mehmed IV. The Emperors asks for a day before he can gives his consent, but Carmesina takes matters on her own hands. In broad daylight, she goes to Tirant's tent and has sex with the bedridden hero. When Carmesina refuses to marry Mehmed because she has been with Tirant, war breaks out. In the decisive battle, Tirant kills the sultan, but he returns from the battlefields badly wounded and dies on the way back. Carmesina dies of grief. After the death of the emperor of Byzantium, Hippolytus marries the Empress and becomes the new ruler. Diafebus and Estefania sail away from Constantinople after Tirant's death.

Production and cast

The film was shot in English. It was filmed in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Palermo, Granada,

Huelva Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including nature reserve on the Gulf of Cádiz coast. The ria ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. The title sequence features four paintings by

Paolo Uccello Paolo Uccello ( , ; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian (Florentine) painter and mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. In his book ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, S ...

: '' Saint George and the Dragon'' in

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, London, and three versions of ''

The Battle of San Romano ''The Battle of San Romano'' is a set of three paintings by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello depicting events that took place at the Battle of San Romano between Florentine and Sienese forces in 1432. They are significant as revealing the ...

''. * Casper Zafer as

*Esther Nubiola as Carmesina *

as Ines, the 'Placid Widow' *

Leonor Watling Leonor Elizabeth Ceballos Watling (born 28 July 1975) is a Spanish film actress and singer. Early life Leonor Ceballos Watling was born on 28 July 1975 in Madrid, to a Spanish father from Cádiz and an English mother, the youngest of four sib ...

as Pleasure-of-My-Life *

Ingrid Rubio Ingrid Rubio Ruiz (born 2 August 1975 in Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish actress. She won the Special Mention Award at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival for her performance in the film ''Taxi''. Career She has appeared in ove ...

as Estefania *

Charlie Cox Charlie Thomas Cox (born 15 December 1982) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil in several projects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, including lead roles in the television series ''Daredevil'' (201 ...

as Diafebus *

Giancarlo Giannini Giancarlo Giannini (born 1 August 1942) is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Love and Anarchy'' (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for '' Seven Beauties ...

as the Emperor *

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...

as the Empress *Sid Mitchel as Hippolytus *Rafael Amargo as

Jay Benedict Jay Benedict (April 11, 1951 – April 4, 2020) was an American actor who spent most of his life and career in the United Kingdom. He was frequently cast as American characters in British films and television programmes. He was best known for hi ...

as the Ottoman ambassador *Rebecca Cobos as Eliseo

References

Sources

*Majarín, Sara. ''Una vida de cine: Pasión, Utopía, Historia: Lecciones de Vicente Aranda''. Editorial Zumaque S.L., 2013.

External links

* {{Vicente Aranda 2006 films 2000s historical adventure films Italian drama films British historical adventure films Spanish historical adventure films 2000s English-language films English-language Spanish films English-language Catalan films English-language Italian films Films set in the Byzantine Empire Catalan films Films directed by Vicente Aranda Films shot in Madrid Films shot in Istanbul Films shot in Barcelona Films shot in Valencia Films set in the 1400s Films set in Istanbul Films about virginity Films shot in Almería 2000s British films 2000s Spanish films

Plot

Production and cast

See also

References

Sources

External links