La princesse de Montpensier 2010

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Ruthlessly typical, "The Princess of Montpensier" plays out like an episode of "Beverly Hills 90210". Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Tavernier deploys some smart ideas in this film, a period story about wars on the battlefield and those closer to home, but there's something a bit goatish in his attention to some female charms. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Sometimes veteran directors make slower, more deliberate films as they get older, but there's nothing draggy about Bertrand Tavernier's historical drama The Princess Of Montpensier. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: How can the 16th-century heroine of a movie based on a 17th-century novella feel like such a 21st-century woman - without seeming at all anachronistic? That's the wonder of Bertrand Tavernier's "The Princess of Montpensier.'' Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: An engrossing subplot tracks the older man's chaste devotion to the young man's wife, which Tavernier parallels with his love of Christ; unfortunately the routine love triangle takes up most of the screen time. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Tavernier, who likes to film in long tracking shots even in tight, enclosed spaces, is adept at staging both battle scenes and courtly shenanigans, and he wisely keeps this period film within its own antiquated confines. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: For all its outbursts, it feels more guided than fiery, more orchestrated than emotional. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Epic and intimate, historical and contemporary, moving and thought-provoking. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Though the movie is often powerful and sexy, it's also opaque at its center. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR: Long on temptation and larded with violence, Princess gazes on its reckless heroine with avuncular fondness. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The cast and crew render every detail so exquisitely that there's almost too much take in at once. Repeat viewings will be required. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Viewers unfamiliar with the politics of the era might feel lost as the plot unfolds, and the 139-minute running time might be a bit much. But why quibble? Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [A] striking wide-screen costume drama. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "The Princess of Montpensier" enters the field of the swashbuckling romance, so littered with our memories of other films, and conquers it with a startling freshness. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Princess of Montpensier" tells a fairly domestic story, albeit one involving high stakes and exalted people, major players in the ruling Catholic government. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Tavernier creates a world where sex rules human relations, greed shapes history and romantic impulses are as fleeting as the weather. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A stylish reminder of a bygone time when historical epics were very much a part of mainstream filmmaking. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: Swords cross, blood spurts and bosoms heave in The Princess of Montpensier, French director Bertrand Tavernier's thoroughly ravishing drama. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Functions swimmingly as an ambiguous study of wrongly diverted passions. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: There is more than a trace of ennui in a story that gallops at times and plods along at others. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Like its heroine, helmer Bertrand Tavernier's visitation to 16th-century France has both beauty and brains, and offers a portrait of renaissance life leagues more accurate than the most historical epics. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The finest Western you'll see this year is set in aristocratic 16th-century France, in the heat of Counter-Reformation. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: "The Princess of Montpensier'' features sumptuous costumes, grand vistas and swooning emotions, but it's much too clear-eyed to be a romance. Read more