With tons of blood, lust and political scheming, La Reine Margot (or Queen Margot, within the English translation) is what we have to fulfill our thirst for all these issues whereas there isn’t any Game of Thrones on TV. The first season of House of the Dragon has ended, and it might take a very good lengthy whereas earlier than any concrete information of Season 2 comes our method. This historic French drama, although, appears nearly tailored to fill this Thrones hole in tv. The apparent catch is that, in fact, there are not any dragons, sadly. But that is the one one, too.
By now, it is extensively recognized that George R.R. Martin based mostly key moments and parts of his A Song of Ice and Fire novel collection on precise historic information. The entire premise behind House of the Dragon, for instance, comes from an precise battle in English historical past. So there is not any higher approach to proceed inside the writer’s mindset than delving right into a historic drama that has all the weather we all know and love from the Game of Thrones franchise. There’s a bit (or quite a bit) of every little thing in La Reine Margot: intercourse, blood, mad kings, rivalry between factions, mother and father plotting in opposition to their youngsters for their very own political profit, beheadings, unlikely friendships, you identify it. Apart from dragons, in fact.
What is ‘La Reine Margot’ About?
The film is ready in France in the long run of the sixteenth century. By that point, the nation was divided between two most important non secular and political factions, the Catholics and the Huguenots, a variant of the Protestant religion. King Charles IX (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is a member of the Valois Dynasty and has no heirs, a lot resulting from his neurotic and disturbed character — a sort of Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). With a really weak political thoughts, he’s continually swayed by each side: the Catholics represented by his mom, Catherine de Medici (Virna Lisi), and the chief of the Huguenots, Admiral Coligny (Jean-Claude Brialy). Due to this altercation, tensions are excessive, with Huguenots in fixed concern of the Catholics and vice-versa.
To appease everybody’s tempers, Catherine, who herself is traditionally nicknamed “the Serpent Queen,” resulting from her talents that resemble quite a bit these of Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg), arranges the wedding of her solely daughter, Margot of Valois (Isabelle Adjani), to Huguenot nobleman Henri of Bourbon (Daniel Auteuil), the King of Navarre. Anyone who’s ever watched Game of Thrones is aware of by now that weddings are a robust political device, and that, additionally, those that organize them are inclined to have their very own ulterior motives most of the time. With Catherine that is no completely different, and she or he is aware of the marriage will deliver many of the Huguenot leaders to Paris.
Caught in the course of all this turmoil is Margot, who herself has shades of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). She’s Catherine’s solely daughter, and it is implied that she and her many brothers typically sleep collectively, like Targaryens (and sure Lannisters, too). She is a lustful younger lady, who totally enjoys life’s delights, particularly the carnal ones, however, resulting from her youth, nonetheless lacks the malice her mom is so well-known for. She married out of responsibility, however is now the important thing participant in a political dispute that can price the lifetime of many unsuspecting gamers, risking even her lover’s, the dashing Joseph de La Môle (Vincent Perez).
How Is It Similar to ‘Game of Thrones’?
There had been many elements that helped Game of Thrones flip into the phenomenon it was by the tip. Yes, all of us bear in mind the way it ended, however, even after that we nonetheless sat in entrance of our TVs for extra struggling with House of the Dragon, proper? Some will say it is due to the dragons, however that is not it. Well, not all of it, anyway.
A great instance is the scene during which Olenna Tyrell confesses to Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) that she was the one behind the Purple Wedding (bear in mind, there are weddings of many colours in Westeros). How many gasps had been uttered concurrently at that second? That’s as a result of we, as a collective viewers, love drama. It’s what will get us going, what makes us make investments our feelings in a narrative and love the characters we love. Game of Thrones had George R.R. Martin’s very good mastermind behind it. For its profit, La Reine Margot is initially a fictional adaptation of historic occasions written by none aside from Alexandre Dumas, one of many masters of French literature, the one behind timeless works corresponding to The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Dumas understands about plotting and betrayal and love and lust, and La Reine Margot is the place all of these meet, very similar to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
The advanced drama of Game of Thrones is so compelling not simply due to the characters who carry it out, but additionally due to the manufacturing worth of the collection itself. Reading offers with creativeness, however truly seeing locations like Winterfell, the Red Keep, the Wall, and so forth, is a big level in favor of the display adaptation. While Modern Age Paris did not have quite a bit occurring for its profit, La Reine Margot does take advantage of what it had. Settings just like the Louvre (which again then was the royal palace) are delivered to life with many sections, corridors and hidden passages, sufficient to make Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and younger Rhaenyra go loopy exploring.
All that worth can also be added when speaking concerning the visible points of manufacturing. La Reine Margot portrays probably the most notorious occasions in French historical past, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, when a marriage was used because the pretext for a slaughter. So identical to the Red Wedding, the film required a giant construction round it not solely to make it occur, but additionally for it to look bloody and actual sufficient. And it does, with a lot dueling, stabbing and beheading happening all all through the story.
What’s additionally good about La Reine Margot can also be that, identical to Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, it bears official recognition from the trade within the type of awards. The film was nominated for an Academy Award of Best Costume Design in 1995, in addition to for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. It additionally received the Jury Prize in Cannes, with Virna Lisi taking dwelling the prize for Best Actress for her portrayal of Catherine de Medici, the Serpent Queen.
So La Reine Margot is probably not a Hollywood manufacturing, however it does appear like one, with enormous units, dozens of extras and well-designed sequences and characterization. There are not any dragons, sadly, however it does make up for the dearth of them with a compelling and really George R.R. Martin-like story.