THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER World Cinema

When the ravishing Morie de Mezieres is betrothed to the Prince of Montpensier, a fateful chain reaction commences. Whisked away to the Montpensiers’ castle, she is entrusted to the Count of Chabonnes, the prince’s confidante and a tormented deserter, whose task is to educate her on everything from penmanship to astronomy. But as she struggles to adjust to her new life, she becomes ensnared in a passionate struggle of jealousies and desires between her husband’s suspicions, the still-burning ardor of her beloved Duke of Guise and the flirtations of the roguish Duke of Anjou. Set against the devastation of France’s 16th-century Wars of Religion, this masterful period film eschews CG) for location shooting amidst medieval chateaus and rustic hamlets. A renowned cinephile who co-authored the seminal encyclopedia “50 ans de cinema americain,” Bertrand Tavernier commands the Scope screen, orchestrating both dynamic bottle sequences and tout passages of court intrigue in thrilling, serpentine long takes that defy gravity.