The lurid makes a surprisingly bland backdrop against Daniel Auteuil's transcendent performance as a sensible man caught among madness. Once you get past the massacre and the sex, the story picks up, and you may find yourself taking a small interest in what happens to Margot as she begins to betray more human qualities. Furthermore, other elements of the story do remain in the memory, such as the poisoning scene. Really, it's handled quite well. But the beginning is regrettable. Wanna-be ballet- dancers drizzled with blood verges on a spoof of a massacre. If meant to be taken seriously, as this was, it's an obscene gesture to any witness to or victim of a real one. It turned me off to the movie, and the sex scenes made for more, "Oh come on" moments. Even so, I watched it again, fast-forwarding through the silly, tasteless parts to watch this certain actor carry out a gem of a performance. Here, as in other films, you have to hand it to Auteuil. He's a brilliant actor.
Review of Queen Margot
