I wasn't expecting anything quite this silly when everything looked so sophisticated. Surely not SIR Ben Kingsley? Well, he gives his usual fine dignified performance and refuses to be anything other than sophisticated, and yet as the farce becomes sillier, so does he.
I'm not that familiar with Mira Sorvino but she does a wonderful job here. And yet she's too pretty and has too nice a voice to be convincing as a man. Somehow she does fool some of the characters.
Fiona Shaw also does a good job as a scientist who thinks she is over the hill and flattered to be told otherwise. Her experiments are interesting to watch, especially later when she is turning cranks quickly and the editing makes it look like everything is happening quickly.
Rachael Serling has a supporting role also pretending to be male. She manages to be more convincing, because she looks like Fred Savage, and has a voice more like a man. And it is funny to watch her with Harlequin the servant.
Luis Molteni is a rough-looking and funny gardener. While we know it's not his work, the place looks gorgeous. I kept thinking of Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The house is also fabulous.
There is so much deception one wonders how the princess will get out her situation. Somehow it all works out, but it's hilarious when no one knows the whole truth. And of course through most of the movie, only Corine knows she is the princess, because the princess is hated.
The costumes are great. People dressed so well in the 18th century.
I'm not sure why, but I didn't feel quite satisfied, but I mostly liked everything.
Why was there an audience? They showed up occasionally for no reason.
A common complaint with imdb reviews was the editing. I noticed at the start that the movie was edited to fit the time allotted. I blamed the sloppy editing on that, but now I wonder. Did all these imdb reviewers see a version edited to fit the time allotted, or was the editing really that sloppy? Still, that was the main weakness.
Is this family friendly? Perhaps. In the version I saw, Agis is naked but blurred. And of course the women participating in the deception are shown changing their clothes. Later, Agis gets to feel the princess' breasts to prove she is a woman. Other than that, there may not be a problem for more permissive parents.
I mostly had a good time.
