La dame de Monsoreau

"La Dame De Montsoreau" was the second volume of a trilogy ,the first part of which was "La Reine Margot".THe director was obviously obsessed by Patrice Chéreau's gory adaptation of the latter and filled his quota of violence,sex and (male and female) nudity.I have nothing against it ,mind you,but the screenplay,"loosely" based on Dumas' book ,is muddled and repetitive ;the action is so difficult to follow that the director felt compelled to precise WHERE the action took place: Louvres,Bussy's house,Château Du Duc D'Anjou,etc.

It doesn't compare favorably with Yannick Andrei's version in 1971 which has remained memorable and a classic French TV miniseries .2008 Bussy D'Amboise is certainly closer to the historic figure -who was known for his violence (he did take part in the Saint Barthelemy 1572 massacre,in spite of what we are told in the movie)-,but the actors are generally poor and the lack of chemistry between Bussy and Diane is glaring.One can prefer Nicolas Silberg and the late Karine Petersen in Andrei's version.Chicot who played a prominent version in that version disappears after two scenes in Hassan's movie.But most of all,Andrei's movie had a well-constructed screenplay.