24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely on my Top Ten List, January 11, 2000
This review is from: The King's Whore [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I rented The King's Whore many years ago, and it's been on my list of top 10 ever since. I recommended it to a friend in the "fair south" and found that the video was re-titled "The King's Mistress" in Texas. (It'd be easier to recommend a fabulous movie to friends if it didn't have the word "whore" in it). Aside from that, the movie is flawless and beautiful and tragic. The acting is fantastic, the scenery and costumes are superb, and Timothy Dalton is at his best. It may require patience of some to watch (it's not an action thriller), but it has an incredibly soulful ending. Highly recommended.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking yet Engrossing, September 21, 2001
This review is from: The King's Whore [VHS] (VHS Tape)
As a Timothy Dalton fan, I had to watch "The King's Whore" just to see a new side of my favourite actor, and I was completely drawn into it. There is a lot of fighting and it is rather risque at times, but the plot is memorable. I loved the costumes and the scenery of Europe--this is a period piece about a king who falls desperately in love with a young married woman. She feels trapped because every single person she knows and trusts blames her for not agreeing to serve her king--by becoming his mistress. It takes her own husband disbelieving that she has not yet gone to the king for her to succumb to the pressure, yet she never enjoys his presence at all. A war erupts with France and she becomes ill, and because of the king's love for her, he cannot concentrate on fighting a war and instead heals her himself. I won't give away the ending, but it's a superb film with excellent acting. I definitely recommend it, but caution everyone that it deserves it's 'R' rating.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The 115 minute USA release is the best we'll get from THE KING'S WHORE, November 18, 2007
In 1990 THE KING'S WHORE based on the novel by Jacques Tournier was made into a film by Italian director Alex Corti.It originally ran 132 minutes when I had the chance to see it abroad in Europe.Unfortunately,reviews for this film have always run the gamut because there are at least five different versions of it that run as low as 92 minutes depending on the country that released it.Unless the film is shown in its entirety as Corti intended there will always be gaps and scenes that seem chopped and out of place.What a shame that the best release for the USA on DVD runs one full minute longer than the VHS counterpart,yet still is 20 minutes short of the film that was nominated for the Palm d'Or at Cannes.
The film that was intended by Corti in 1990 is in my opinion a 5 star film.With a DVD release for the US (sometimes even titled with the diminutive title THE KING'S MISTRESS!), this lush 17th-Century sweeping tale of unreturned love and revenge has been edited enough to take away the real emotional impact that was in this film originally.Enough of it is there to get the viewer through,but it will undoubtedly seem somewhat choppy to those who have never seen the full length version.
THE KING'S WHORE is a complex story of a kingly obsession for the love of one of his married subjects.Timothy Dalton portrays the tortured Vittorio Amadeo whose total senses have been damaged by one of his married subjects, the beautiful Jeanne de Luynes.The King gets what he always wants, and Jeanne's family,even her husband,abandon her to the King's whims out of fear.Jeanne (a young Valeria Golino) feels totally betrayed and used,so she submits the the King her body,but never her heart, as she sets out to exact revenge on all of those who had betrayed her.Jeanne figures that if she has been "sold" into this slavery as the King's mistress then she will play her cards to the fullest extent.The King and Jeanne go through a "push me-pull you" relationship that the viewer can never decide with whom to side,because there really is no winner in this impossible situation.The King would appear to have the deepest love for Jeanne, but he still beats her and reminds her that he is the ruler.On the other hand,he can be turned by Jeanne should she show even the slightest hint that she might love him.Frankly, Dalton as the King breaks your heart.Golino as Jeanne is marvelous in restraint and defiance, and yet tender when her character starts to give in.This is a story with no possibility of a happy ending.One hopes that either character will give way, but that is not the story that Tournier wrote.There is a battle raging between two rivals that makes it impossible for either to be totally blissful.This is truly a story of "when you are handed lemons,make lemonade" if there ever was one.
With so much edited out, the reasons for Jeanne's brother returning, the War with France and the interaction with Jeanne and her in-laws is severely damaged that I only have to remember what material was there when I first saw it.
The DVD is a beautiful widescreen remastering, but it is extremely rare.It far surpasses the US VHS fullscreen format.There is also some dubbing that was not in the original.Go figure? Since Alex Corti is dead, we may never see this film the way it was intended!Gabriel Yared's continous soundtrack of themes based out of Bach and Mozart flow seamlessly telling the two character's story.
I love this film,but the best that I can do is rate the movie with the 5 stars that I believe it deserves, but leave the decision to the viewer that what you will see may seem confusing and unfinished.That the story is gloomy...yes it is.Times were tough when you belonged to the King.
An excellent companion film would be VATEL.
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