Angelique and the King

Angelique is back for another adventure. In the previous film Angelique married her cousin, Philippe de Plessis-Bellières. At the start of 'Angelique and the King' Philippe dies and Angelique is once again widowed. Now, King Louis XIV expresses his interest in her. He sends her on a mission to ensure a treaty is signed between Persia and Russia.

In Persia, she gets more than she bargained for in Ambassador Bachtiary Bey, who sees her as a gift to him. In a daring rescue, she is saved by Prince De Vardes, who proclaims his love for her. Now Bachriary demands De Vardes' head. Oh, Angelique and all the men who fall at her feet!!

As a reward for her mission, Kind Louis awards a property to Angelique, which belonged to her first husband, Jeoffrey de Peyrac. Jeoffrey was my favourite character from the first movie, so I was overjoyed at his return (once again portrayed by the handsome Robert Hossein).

Angelique is once again portrayed by the fabulous Michelle Mercier, and she is as witty as ever. I absolutely love her as Angelique. As always, the film offers passion, drama, humour, intrigue, action and adventure. 'Angelique and the King' was so much better than its predecessor 'Angelique: The Road to Versailles' (Aka 'Marvellous Angelique'). The costumes and locations are stunning as always.

"Angélique et le roy" is Anne et Serge Golon's peak:their novel successfully recreates the atmosphere of Louis the fourteenth 's court,with its intrigues,and its incredible "Etiquette".Their depictions are vivid and colorful.They have never blended so intimately Angelique's adventures with the historical events:and there 's a lot of 'em:war in Holland,the sumptuous feasts which celebrated victory,the rise of Madame de Montespan and the fall of Louise de La Vallière as favorites of the Sun King,the poisons affair,Henriette d'Angleterre's death,et al.Of course,there are some mistakes (the book was written in the fifties):Monsieur ,frère du roi (king's brother),was never the villain depicted by the Golon,and his wife's(Henriette) poisening was never proved(and the historians reckon it's unlikely).

What about the movie?It's an almost complete loss.The scenarists took what was the most spectacular-Angélique meets a Persian prince and is almost raped,she attends a black mass- and left the rest,all I mention above."Indomptable Angélique" and "angélique et le sultan" the two final episodes of the saga are,if possible,worse.

One should note,however,that only the third part of the novel was transferred to the screen.Philippe ,who plays a prominent part in the novel ,disappears in the prologue!

If only more people knew the novels...Alas!

beautiful people, touching love, adventure and mysteries, Versailles and strange situations. that could be all. a splendid Michelle Mercier as new, strong, determined, mature Angelique and her fight for justice and true love. France of Louis XIV and little more than romanticism, exoticism or a history lesson. a film/a series who reminds more the sensitivity , expectations and innocence of the public from the"60's - East European not the last - than the glamor of a pink history. a film who seduces for the , at first sigh, large circles of chaos. and for the art of the lead actress to create a credible character who defines herself more than by the beauty but for the force and courage. a film for each age. for discover a form of cinema who has origin in the popular novel by Alexander Dumas father and Feval and could be a kind of alternative to many blockbusters.

A year after her second husband Philippe died in battle, king Louis (Jacques Toja) asks Angélique if she is available to go on a diplomatic mission for him: meet the ambassador of Persia, Bachtiary Bey (Sami Frey). Diplomacy is not exactly Angélique's field, but the king encourages her: "You are an impossible woman, but please stay as you are." The reward is the castle of her first husband, Count Peyrac, how could she refuse? The castle brings back old memories. The first meeting with Bachtiary Bey at a public execution, however, is not going well, because he is not used to listen to proud and determined women, but then there is an unexpected interruption...

Here we go again, the adventure continues, and the addition of exotic friends and enemies, including even a group of satanists at a black mass, keeps it interesting. Angélique seems more confident now, after she was only chased and victimized in the previous part. I voted 8/6/7/6/6 for the 5 movies of the series.

I liked the first film of this series and I stumbled across the third part. Costumes and cinematography are great, and there a lot of twists and turns in the plot.

Acting is very good as well, and it made me a worth wile to watch. I really think they made these films with excellence and interest in a detail.

There is too much of romance involved, I guess that age was that way. today it is a whole different matter.

France was beautiful then as it is today. Scene of Angelique riding south is a memorable one!