Angélique (2013)
Directed by Ariel Zeitoun

Film Review

Ariel Zeitoun's exuberant remake of a popular classic of 1960s French cinema is a feisty feast for devotees of mild period erotica but somehow it lacks the charm of the original and fails to be much more than a good-natured timewaster.  The historical novels of Anne and Serge Golon revolving around a buxom 17th century one-woman female emancipation movement named Angélique were hugely popular in their time and spawned a series of five films featuring a seductive Michèle Mercier in the central role.  Anne Golon made no secret of the fact that she was no fan of these films (all directed by Bernard Borderie) but has responded more positively to Zeitoun's remake, which she feels is much closer to the spirit of the original novels. Comparing the 1964 film Angélique, marquise des anges with its slightly less steamy remake, it is hard to know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Michèle Mercier is undoubtedly a hard act to follow but Nora Arnezeder makes more than a decent fist of it, looking every bit as ravishing as her predecessor, and a good deal ballsier.  Gérard Lanvin replaces Robert Hossein as Joffrey de Peyrac, Angélique's implausibly older husband, clearly revelling in an ever-so slightly camp swashbuckling role that suits him down to the ground.  More than anything, it is the sparkling rapport between the two likeable leads that makes the film so enjoyable, although the swordfights, jaw-dropping set-pieces and generous dollops of innocent erotica do the film no harm.  Admittedly, the film does sometimes get a bit above itself and occasionally strays towards the downright pompous, the writing, mise-en-scène and score all showing a distinct lack of restraint in places.  But overall this Angélique re-vamp manages to be an entertaining romp - and almost as troublingly sensual as that series of films in the 1960s which played havoc with the hormones of a generation of French teenagers.

Film Synopsis

In France during the mid-17th century, Angélique is scarcely more than a child when she marries the wealthy Count Jeoffrey de Peyrac against her will.  In time, the strong-willed Angélique grows to love her husband and it is through her love for him that she devotes herself to fighting against tyranny and injustice...