The Princess of Montpensier is a period piece based in France in the Sixteenth Century. While the story is fiction, it is based on a short story written from 1662.
Princess Marie de Montpensier (Melanie Thierry) is a wealthy heiress. While she is stunningly beautiful, she is also a strategic asset. In an age of arranged marriages, she has been pledged to the younger brother of her true love, Henri de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel). However, the Guise family has fallen out of favor with the Queen, creating an opportunity for bargaining which results in a newly arranged betrothal to the Prince de Montpensier (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet).
The politics and feuds of Sixteenth Century France create changing fortunes. But Marie's fortunes seem to be star-crossed. Her mere presence seems to cast a spell on the men around her. This includes her teacher, the Count de Chabannes (Lambert Wilson). Marie seems to tempt fate to find love, but finds herself chasing an illusion that will only leave her empty.
For a film based on a short story, The Princess of Montpensier seemed to have a lot to say. In fact, maybe too much. With a two hour and nineteen minute run time, the film felt sluggish at times. However, the story more than adequately adapted from a short story to a feature length film. The characters helped bring the story to life. It was an interesting peek into the life of the aristocracy during that turbulent era.
If you are going to create a character that can mesmerize the men around her, then you have to carefully cast that character to ensure a level of credibility. I am not sure a better candidate could be found than Melanie Thierry. She was stunning, intelligent and strong. I fully committed to the attributes of her character based on her performance as much as her beauty. I was recently impressed with Lambert Wilson in Of Gods and Men. He is a skilled actor with a quiet presence on screen. Leprince-Ringuet managed the difficult task of creating a likable character that the audience could identify with and despise in equal measure. Ulliel was excellent as his rival. The cast helped elevate this story for me.
I did not see a rating for The Princess of Montpensier, but I am certain it would receive an R rating from the MPAA. The film has a couple of scenes that depict male and female nudity, to include full frontal female nudity. It is contextual, but includes a bit of graphic adult thematic material regarding virginity. The film also has a couple of battle scenes, which are relatively mild by war-film standards. The battles are more of a background than focus in these scenes. But there was a scene early in the film that depicted a child and a pregnant woman slain by swords. Again, the material was contextual. The Princess of Montpensier contains material that may not be good for younger viewers, but it is not gratuitous. I would suggest a teen audience or older.
The Princess of Montpensier was visually rich with exceptional costumes and scenery. The Sixteenth Century was skillfully recreated to help complete the illusion. The casting was equally impressive. The film could have benefited from some additional editing to cut the run time down a bit. Overall, the story was engaging, providing a glimpse into the period while introducing interesting characters. I will give this film a solid recommendation. Stream it if you can find it free. 7.5/10.
