★★★
(directed by Bertrand Tavernier, 2011)
Bertrand Tavernier’s new historical epic is a bit of a mixed bag. Based on a short story published in 1662 by Madame de La Fayette, it tells the story of a young woman’s fall from grace during the wars of religion in 16th-century France. It looks fabulous, but somehow its Gallic charm never quite forges its way through the eye to the heart.
The Idle Woman 