The Princess of Montpensier (15)
HHHH
Dir: Bertrand Tavernier With: Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson
BERTRAND Tavernier’s period drama, pictured below, is a huge, swirling, monumentally satisfying epic taking in war, peace and many a point in between. Set in 16th-century France as enmity between Catholics and Huguenots rages, the story is built around the titular princess, played by Melanie Thierry.
Young Marie, a firm believer in following one’s heart, finds she is to be traded in marriage to a suitor of her father’s choosing. From this simple arrangement a tangled web of feelings and allegiances is woven. Faced with a wise old count, an earnest prince, a romantic dreamer and a devilishly rakish duke, where is a girl to turn?
Tavernier, the 70-year-old director of Life and Nothing But, attacks the action scenes like a 20-year-old and the countryside landscapes are so stunning you could put a gilt frame around many a scene and hang them on the wall. If the dialogue is a little stagey, the undoubted movie star of the piece is Thierry, whose classical beauty gives the film an irresistible glow.
Belmont, Aberdeen, from tomorrow. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, from July 15. Glasgow Film Theatre, 5-8 August.
Trust (15)
HHH
Dir: David Schwimmer With: Catherine Keener, Clive Owen
DAVID Schwimmer, the very same Ross from Friends and the director of the comedy Run Fatboy Run, chooses a tough subject for only his second feature film, but acquits himself well.
Annie, just turned 14, has made a new friend on the internet. She won’t tell her parents (played by Catherine Keener and Clive Owen) too much about “Charlie from California”, and that’s what Charlie’s hoping for. You can tell where the story is going from early on and to his credit, Schwimmer moves the drama on swiftly to the difficult business of what happens next.
A terrifying watch for any parent, and it comes close to overheated territory at times, but first class performances from the likes of Keener, Owen and Liana Liberato, playing the teenager whose trust is broken, make for an engrossing, intelligent drama. A real surprise from Schwimmer this, one that shows he’s serious about the directing game.
The Round Up (12A)
HHH
Dir: Rose Bosch With: Jean Reno, Melanie Laurent
THIS gruelling, heartfelt account of one of the most shameful episodes in French history has done extremely respectable business at the home box office. It’s Paris, the summer of 1942, and the city’s Jewish community lives from rumour to rumour about what lies ahead.
Come July 16 the unimaginable becomes reality as families are rounded up and taken to the city’s Vel d’Iver. Writer-director Rose Bosch, once an investigative journalist, knows the importance of telling a story through a few well-rounded characters, and in Jean Reno’s doctor, Melanie Laurent’s nurse, Annette, and young Joseph (Hugo Leverdez), who provides a boy’s eye view of events, she has a strong trio. Pity about the almost pantomimic scenes of Hitler’s plotting, which prove an unnecessary distraction from an otherwise well told tale.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article