This one went from cinema to streaming very quickly! Much to Ridley's distaste. I guess launching a medieval epic up against the likes of DUNE in a pandemic ain't easy.
ANYWAY. have you read the book? I was about halfway through it when I watched this. It's pretty faithful to the text, streamlines here and there as you'd expect and introduces a friend who I guess is probably entirely made up since she doesn't appear in the book at all as a named person, but likely suitably summarises a lot of people at the time. Honestly the book ain't all that IMO, worth the 99p Kindle price I paid but it's dry and repetitive. Like, the author will tell you one thing and then literally tell you it again a page later in only slightly different words. I can read! This is a book, not a class presentation! And some of the mix of actual historical recorded information and made up thoughts and opinions didn't always sit right with me for reasons I'm not certain of.
But this was about the film! Now it's about the book as well. The film:
I did enjoy the three-chapter structure before the denoument, that was done well I thought. Since the actors are making no effort for authenticity in their accents I just ignored all that too, happily enough. Lord knows what's going on with hairstyles and such, for all I know that sort of thing was all the rage back then in Normandy and Paris. It all looks suitably ye olden days too. The eventual duel is appropriately brutal and only a bit embellished over what [the book's author has claimed from] the historical contemporary accounts. Wouldn't fancy being a woman in 1386, I tell you what.
|
