cembalo-91031 Review of Marguerite & Julien

Marguerite & Julien (2015)

A French version of Romeo and Juliet and doomed love.

[10/10 · 27 August 2016]

This is a beautifully directed movie with excellent acting. I link the anomalous intrusive details like helicopters in a seventeenth century setting with the relative values presented, which are that while incest is not generally speaking a good idea, there can be exceptions. However, executions and beheadings, generally and in this case and similar cases in particular, are simply ugly and insane. Within the context of the movie Marguerite's and Julien's relationship is universally condemned, but even that is to some extent tempered with a kind of faith in the power of love and destiny. The movie's style is romantic, perhaps a little repetitive like a long ballad with refrains, but is certainly in keeping with the subject matter. It could be done another way, of course, but that would be another movie.