Retrospective Film Review

La Reine Margot (1994) • 30 Years Later — bringing to life a blood-soaked episode in France’s history

Amid intrigue and violence at the 16th-century French court, a young queen is caught between a loveless marriage and a secret lover.

The traditional costume drama had so often presented such a tired and unconvincing portrayal of the past that the arrival of the new wave of “heritage films” in the 1980s and 1990s came as a breath of fresh air. Frequently based on classic literature, these films did tend to take a highly romanticised view of historical eras — Merchant-Ivory’s E.M. Forster adaptations being acclaimed or derided examples, depending on your viewpoint. However, they were also notable for making a real effort to recreate the physical environment (at least) of their periods convincingly.

Though the heritage film was most closely associated with Britain, the model was also adopted in other countries. In the US, Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (1992) was a prominent example. In France, where production was…