BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

ShangLuda Admirable film.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

DaveTheNovelist (WriterDave) Every so often a movie comes along that knocks me down a notch and reminds me that my taste in films I seek out to watch isn't always impeccable. I normally would stay away from stuff like this, but I was duped by some glowing reviews and the Rohmer pedigree.There's an initial and intriguing novelty to the production where Rohmer essentially superimposes the actors onto painted (digital) back-drops of revolution era France. This quickly wanes and becomes about as interesting as watching the paint dry on a paint by numbers scene. What we're left with is a boring and stuffy film about aristocrats in 18th century France. None of the characters are appealing or sympathetic. The pace is so languid, the dialogue so arduous, and suspense is clearly a foreign concept to Rohmer, that I ended up not caring whose head rolled, who was harboring who, or what the devil the revolution was supposed to be about. The movie would've greatly benefited from some semblance of emotional build-up and a music score (there's some fine classical music used at the very end). Despite being so "talky", the film plays much like a silent film, and the worst kind of film at that, a dull and uninteresting film about infinitely interesting subjects. Only the most astute French historians will find anything to take from this film, as it dose seem to paint well known events from a new angle (the Lady is English and a royalist). Otherwise, avoid this yawner at all costs unless you are suffering from insomnia (I dozed off twice).

cmyklefty I wanted to see this film in the theater, but after release on video finally saw it. The acting was not special even it was in French with English subtitles, the only thing I give credit to the director using outside painted background scenes with working with the actors. Using this style in the movie made the atmosphere of the picture. The acting could have been stronger using the full effect of the time period. It lack stress of emotions that the actors are feeling. The Lady and the Duke is worth watching if you like the feel of walking through art work. I would like to see more movies done this way provide that the acting is better.

Chuck-185 "The Lady and the Duke" is based on a true story and taken directly from the memoirs of Grace Elliott, a well-to-do Scottish woman who lived in France during the French Revolution. The film concentrates on her months in Paris during the later years of the revolution (1793-1794), better known as the Reign of Terror. Director Eric Rohmer took the unusual and odd step of filming his actors superimposed over 18th Century scenic paintings. Perhaps it was his intention to contrast these inanimate objects with the real-life pain and utter misery of his subjects' existence. Lucy Russell is elegant and believable as Grace Elliott, a woman torn between loyalties to an old lover and her former aristocratic way of life. As the Revolution becomes more horrific, she sees all her friends who haven't been wise enough to leave France annihilated, and begins to wish she had left the country herself. Jean-Claude Dreyfus is also excellent as the Duke of Orleans, Grace's former lover who still remains a close friend. Although a royal himself, he makes the ruinous decision to vote for the King's death which has disastrous results for both himself and his country. Grace and the Duke's relationship are the centerpiece of the movie juxtaposed against the changing times and the coming doom and radical phase of the Terror. Director Rohmer's movie is both exquisitely mounted and historically knowledgeable. He has taken one of history's more volatile times and brought the audience into all the suffering and injustices of that period. Although one might need to know a bit of history regarding the French Revolution beforehand, this movie can still be viewed by anyone who has sympathy for the human condition. Man's inhumanity to Man is well on display in "The Lady and the Duke".

George Parker I gave up on "The Lady and the Duke" at the halfway mark out of sheer boredom having rented the DVD based solely on the Rohmer reputation. However interesting the film's pervasive digitized backdrops, the effect was beautiful but nonetheless theatrical and fabricated. Given performances so stiff they bordered on paralysis, a viscous pace, and subtitles, the film simply didn't seem worth the while. However, those into the period or with an interest in legitimate theater on film might fare better. (C+)