Having begun like most directors with small subjects Jean-Paul Rappeneau seems to have acquired a penchant for the crowded canvas given that his last three films - including this one - comprise Cyrano de Bergerac and Bon Voyage. My knowledge of the period - 1830s - is skimpy to say the least so I have no basis for questioning the authenticity or otherwise of the storyline involving both Italian patriots hiding in France and an outbreak of cholera in the Provence region but this is really academic because authentic or not it provides both a dramatic and colourful backdrop to a well-told story in which for once the Romantic element is understated. Olivier Martinez is sufficiently athletic to carry out lots of Errol Flynn-like engagements with a dozen assailants at once and come off incredibly best but he is woefully lacking in Flynn's abundant charm/charisma so it's just as well that leading lady Juliette Binoche has enough for both. Not least of its assets is the support, never more than ten or fifteen minutes in each case, from some of the finest actors in France from Isabelle Huppert to Jean Yanne to Francois Cluzot to Pierre Arditi. A fine film from a fine director.
Review of The Horseman on the Roof
