Queen Margot ( 1994 ) ( La Reine Margot ) [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import - France ]

INCLUDED BELOW ARE BRIEF NOTES ON THE MANY VARYING RUN TIMES AND VERSIONS -- INCLUDING FRENCH DIGI BOOK VS U.S. COHEN RELEASENOTE ON CONTENT: This movie is loosely based on true events and a story by Alexandre Dumas recounting those events in novel form. Those events were truly brutal and the violence here has a point. It is not simply gratuitous, though viewers who wish to avoid the sexual and violent content may not find this film to their tastes.RESTORED RELEASE IS STUNNING. Pathe has conducted a 4K restoration of this French classic which is being released on Cohen Media in the US. The current Pathe and Cohen releases are essentially identical for the movie itself. More on the French digi-book release below. **** NOTE FOR AMAZON STREAMING VIEWERS: The streaming version of this restoration is stunning, but doesn't match the full value of the 4K release when watched on Blu Ray disc. Amazon's streaming service just hasn't caught up to that Hi Def presentation. If your just renting to see if you like the story, it's a good savings. But if you know you will purchase, it's worth a few dollars more to get the actual Blu-Ray.****THE PLOT: This 1994 film based on the Alexandre Dumas novel of the same name are set on the events surrounding the marriage of Catherine de Medici's Catholic daughter Marguerite (Margot) to Protestant Henri de Bourbon. It has been just two years, almost to the day, since an uneasy peace was brokered between the Catholics and the Huguenots (Calvinist Protestants) over political control of France. Catherine has arranged the marriage in order to promote peace between the Catholics and Protestants. However, tensions are high in Catholic Paris which is now crowded with protestants in town for the wedding. Margot and Henri are not in love and form a sort of partnership while each seek their own lovers, even on their wedding day. Just days after the wedding, an infamous event follows that is a bloody chapter in the history of France called the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. A plan to murder visiting protestants is hatched and rioting takes over the streets of Paris. The movie quotes 6,000 dead though modern research states anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 counting the weeks that followed. Protestants visiting the royal wedding would have represented many of the wealthy and powerful class of Huguenots.MORE ON RESTORATION FOR THIS RELEASE: (Note: the disc is so stunning I recommend it over the purchase of Amazon streaming. A rental of the streaming is still fine to save money). I admit, I was worried about this one because the older DVD releases were so bad I was sure it was the source material. I must say, I was absolutely happy with this restoration despite minor imperfections. There is still just a touch of cinematic grain that should absolutely be present (lack of it suggests too much DNR). Even from a small distance one can see pores on the skin and sweat beads on faces. There were moments of noticeable softness that I can accept and didn't find that distracting considering all it's strengths. Some dark scenes are still pretty grainy as one may expect. However, the stormy blue-grey color pallet is maintained while the brilliant colors of costume leap off the screen and dazzle. Adjani's pale skin with dark hair, red lips, and blue eyes are haunting. The glint of her metallic blue and silver dress against the dingy Paris streets was amazing! Sound also is a substantial improvement. This disc is a MUST upgrade if you love the movie. The restoration doesn't provide absolute perfection as I don't think perfection is available in this case. So the key to remember is the amount of improvement. This should make fans very happy overall.ACCOLADES: This is one of Isabelle Adjani's most stunning roles for which she won a César award for best actress. The movie also won the Jury Prize and 5 César awards. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, but some American audiences will find the content graphic with the depiction of the massacre, sexual situations, and overtones of incest.IMPORTANT NOTES ON RUNTIMES AND OTHER VERSIONS: The original run time as introduced at Cannes 1994 was 161 minutes, a few more than even this 159 minute restored version (***both French and US new release have the same listed run time of 159 min). The official run of the older US release was just 145 minutes. What American audiences may not realize is that the longer 161 min original French version actually DID NOT include the iconic scene of Margot and her lover La Mole wrapped in the red cloak you see on the US cover of the DVD. The love scene is in both of course, but the following scene outside the stone building was added in the older U.S. version. The U.S. distributor Miramax insisted the scene be included in the original U.S. version to emphasize the relationship more. Though the restored version is closer to the original French and edited by the director, I am happy to report that this scene is included in the new release. This iconic scene may or may not be important to the story, but it is at once romantic, haunting, poetic and morbid. It also explains Margot's actions at the end of the movie. I understand there were other odd releases long ago in Australia and elsewhere that ran as long as 171 minutes. The US release, from as recent as 2003, was a huge disappointment because of the poor video and audio quality, as well as the approx. 15 min of missing footage (not due solely to format differences). The current release is the official final cut authorized by the director Patrice Chéreau under his supervision.FRENCH DIGI BOOK vs U.S. COHEN RELEASE: The French Digi-book release is marked for Region A,B,C (1,2,3) so it does work on U.S. players. However, the special features on the French Digi book release are ALL on an accompanying DVD that is Region 2 ONLY, and also cannot be High Def because of the DVD format. None of the special features have subtitles either so you better know French for those. The first extra with historical background and movie production history/interviews was nice, but frankly didn't blow me away. The extras with storyboard comparisons and the costuming were frankly a disappointment for me because the movie is so amazing in those departments. I do not recommend the French Digi book release anyway. The pictures in the book are nice but the discs are hard to remove from the cardboard folders. The special digi book was not a hit with French market either (the restoration was however) so the chance you would like it over the more sparse Cohen release is slim. ***The U.S. release on Cohen Media does not bring any of the special features over besides the trailer and voice-over commentary. There is also a small booklet with notes inside the case that is similar to the digibook photos, but slightly less detailed. ***Please note that French speakers can turn the English subtitles off on the U.S. release for French only. However, that has to be done with the "Subtitles" button on your remote control. There is no menu option on-screen to turn them off. Most Blu Ray players will have the "subtitles" button on their remote.I recommend buying the U.S. Cohen release for all English-only speakers.

INCLUDED BELOW ARE BRIEF NOTES ON THE MANY VARYING RUN TIMES AND VERSIONS -- INCLUDING FRENCH DIGI BOOK VS U.S. COHEN RELEASERESTORED RELEASE IS STUNNING. Pathe has conducted a 4K restoration of this French classic which is being released on Cohen Media in the US. The current Pathe and Cohen releases are essentially identical for the movie itself. More on the French digi-book release below.THE PLOT: This 1994 film based on the Alexandre Dumas novel of the same name are set on the events surrounding the marriage of Catherine de Medici's Catholic daughter Marguerite (Margot) to Protestant Henri de Bourbon. It has been just two years, almost to the day, since an uneasy peace was brokered between the Catholics and the Huguenots (Calvinist Protestants) over political control of France. Catherine has arranged the marriage in order to promote peace between the Catholics and Protestants. However, tensions are high in Catholic Paris which is now crowded with protestants in town for the wedding. Margot and Henri are not in love and form a sort of partnership while each seek their own lovers, even on their wedding day. Just days after the wedding, an infamous event follows that is a bloody chapter in the history of France called the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. A plan to murder visiting protestants is hatched and rioting takes over the streets of Paris. The movie quotes 6,000 dead though modern research states anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 counting the weeks that followed. Protestants visiting the royal wedding would have represented many of the wealthy and powerful class of Huguenots.MORE ON RESTORATION FOR THIS RELEASE: I admit, I was worried about this one because the older DVD releases were so bad I was sure it was the source material. I must say I was absolutely happy with this restoration despite minor imperfections. There is still just a touch of cinematic grain that should absolutely be present (lack of it suggests too much DNR). Even from a small distance one can see pores on the skin and sweat beads on faces. There were moments of noticeable softness that I can accept and didn't find that distracting considering all it's strengths. Some dark scenes are still pretty grainy as one may expect. However, the stormy blue-grey color pallet is maintained while the brilliant colors of costume leap off the screen and dazzle. Adjani's pale skin with dark hair, red lips, and blue eyes are haunting. The glint of her metallic blue and silver dress against the dingy Paris streets was amazing! Sound also is a substantial improvement. This disc is a MUST upgrade if you love the movie. The restoration doesn't provide absolute perfection as I don't think perfection is available in this case. So the key to remember is the amount of improvement. This should make fans very happy overall.ACCOLADES: This is one of Isabelle Adjani's most stunning roles for which she won a César award for best actress. The movie also won the Jury Prize and 5 César awards. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, but some American audiences will find the content graphic with the depiction of the massacre, sexual situations, and overtones of incest.IMPORTANT NOTES ON RUNTIMES AND OTHER VERSIONS: The original run time as introduced at Cannes 1994 was 161 minutes, a few more than even this 159 minute restored version (***both French and US new release have the same listed run time of 159 min). The official run of the older US release was just 145 minutes. What American audiences may not realize is that the longer 161 min original French version actually DID NOT include the iconic scene of Margot and her lover La Mole wrapped in the red cloak you see on the US cover of the DVD. The love scene is in both of course, but the following scene outside the stone building was added in the older U.S. version. The U.S. distributor Miramax insisted the scene be included in the original U.S. version to emphasize the relationship more. Though the restored version is closer to the original French and edited by the director, I am happy to report that this scene is included in the new release. This iconic scene may or may not be important to the story, but it is at once romantic, haunting, poetic and morbid. It also explains Margot's actions at the end of the movie. I understand there were other odd releases long ago in Australia and elsewhere that ran as long as 171 minutes. The US release, from as recent as 2003, was a huge disappointment because of the poor video and audio quality, as well as the approx. 15 min of missing footage (not due solely to format differences). The current release is the official final cut authorized by the director Patrice Chéreau under his supervision.FRENCH DIGI BOOK vs U.S. COHEN RELEASE: The French Digi-book release is marked for Region A,B,C (1,2,3) so it does work on U.S. players. However, the special features on the French Digi book release are ALL on an accompanying DVD that is Region 2 ONLY, and also cannot be High Def because of the DVD format. None of the special features have subtitles either so you better know French for those. The first extra with historical background and movie production history/interviews was nice, but frankly didn't blow me away. The extras with storyboard comparisons and the costuming were frankly a disappointment for me because the movie is so amazing in those departments. I do not recommend the French Digi book release anyway. The pictures in the book are nice but the discs are hard to remove from the cardboard folders. The special digi book was not a hit with French market either (the restoration was however) so the chance you would like it over the more sparse Cohen release is slim. ***The U.S. release on Cohen Media does not bring any of the special features over besides the trailer and voice-over commentary. There is also a small booklet with notes inside the case that is similar to the digibook photos, but slightly less detailed. ***Please note that French speakers can turn the English subtitles off on the U.S. release for French only. However, that has to be done with the "Subtitles" button on your remote control. There is no menu option on-screen to turn them off. Most Blu Ray players will have the "subtitles" button on their remote.I recommend buying the U.S. Cohen release for all English-only speakers.

On seeing this on blu ray i just had to add it to my collection. It is one of my favourite movies of all time and the fact the blu ray version is over 10 mins longer than the UK DVD version makes it all the better. So if your into period drama movies then i would highly recommend you add this one to your collection. Brilliant

Beautifully staged and lit. All the cast are superb. Packaging has lots of info - but I had to exercise my O level francais

Great Historical Drama

La qualité image du DVD est très bonne mais le son des voix est parfois insuffisant en central (difficile de savoir si c'est la bande son originale de qualité moyenne, les films de Chéreau ayant un peu ce défaut, ou la transcription cheap en DVD de mauvaise qualité "écrasante") donc un peu dommage car parfois gênantL'intérêt du collecteur réside dans ses 2 principaux bonus:1 heure d'entretien avec Chéreau et Thomson sur la genèse et la réalisation du film, absolument passionnant +++ etenviron 40 mn avec les différents intervenants (acteurs et techniciens) mais on reste un peu sur sa fin, et hélas rien avec AdjaniEnfin, il y avait un défaut qualité sur le porteCD: on ne peut pas extraire les 2 CDs, bloqués, il a fallu déchirer le carton +++ ceci explique peut être le prix imbattable (et 2 fois moins cher qu'à la Fnac ...)

J'ai commandé ce à partir du Royaume-Uni, Pathé UK n'a pas jugé bon de le libérer encore sur Blu-Ray. Je ne pouvais pas attendre car c'est l'un de mes films préférés. C'est un film absolument magnifique qui est très bien fait: il met les films hollywoodiens synthétiques à la honte. C'est aussi beaucoup mieux que certains plutôt brillant drames d'époque du Royaume-Uni. J'ai toujours trouvé Amazon UK pour être fantastique .... mais les bat Amazon.fr. Je suis dans les 48 heures de la commande, il !! Mon seul reproche est le digibook que les disques sont très difficiles à sortir: la pire que j'ai connu. J'espère que cette critique est logique, car mon français est horrible, je me fie à Google de traduire pour moi!