Well, powder our wigs if it isn't a slice of *superbe *costumed drama to add some Gallic elan to a damp Friday afternoon. The Princess Of Montpensier is a rollicking adventure that wafts a disdainful glove in the face of the nearest musketeer, and we've got a new clip to offer a taster.
Montpensier is set during the Wars of Religion that saw France's Protestant Hugenots and, er, Catholic Catholics drown the middle part of the 16th century in copious amounts of blood.
Fans of La Reine Margot will testify that it wasn't an especially happy time for the Hugenots, and this time they're on the receiving end of the Prince of Montpensier's (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) attentions. He's away fighting while his beautiful wife (Mélanie Thierry) pines for another man in a remote castle under the close supervision of the lusty Duke of Anjou (Raphaël Personnaz) and her tutor. And you know how those lusty dukes roll.
It's a recipe for romantic disaster to which, by all accounts, director Bertrand Tavernier has done justice. The story is inspired by a short story by Madame de La Fayette and it'll be buckling swash at a cinema near you from July 8.