KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Usamah Harvey
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Hattie
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
writers_reign
With the obvious exception of yet another Masterclass in Acting from Isabelle Huppert there isn't too much to enjoy here, at least on the surface. Huppert plays a real character, Madame Maintenon, initially the mistress and then the wife of Louis the Fourteenth who took it into her head to found a school - the Saint Cyr of the titles - to 'improve' some 250 young girls selected from around one thousand applicants. One of the first tasks was to iron out provincial accents and aim for an Gallic equivalent of Received English and this is where the native French speakers have a bonus inasmuch as they can follow the progress from Regional to National accents whilst to those obliged to rely on subtitles the accents sound pretty much the same. There's other stuff going on here, not least the secular/religion conflict but it tends to be obtuse and there are too many 'five years later' captions and not enough straightforward storytelling. Huppert fans will like it anyway but the rest may find it hard going.
marlenechen
A bit difficult to understand, it takes much time, not only once to watch the film. Fine points of french history and language are not visible (and not particularly interesting) for me, because this film is about the relations between humans, human and God, human and its conscience. From this direction the film is terrifically impressive and deep… Also if you like films a sort of "The Fine art of love: mine ha-ha": extremely romantic, but with such dramatic end, that you weep bitter tears after the last shot then it's definitely for you. P.S. I'm so sorry for my terrible English.
deming
I like period pieces, and this film has plenty of history (late 17th-century France, Louis XIV), setting (Normandy) and elaborate costumes (including various hairpieces). There is some interesting insight into Madame de Maintenon, the mistress-cum-wife of the king (whose devotion to Catholicism most certainly influenced her husband's repression of the Protestants in France). The acting is marvelous, perhaps most notably among the younger girls, who progress from speaking their local patois (Provencale, Languedocien, etc.) to "proper" French as Madame sees to it that they become educated young ladies. My 20th-century-trained ear found it a bit difficult to understand all of this proper French, but I did enjoy the film.
Christophe Chohin
It is inspired by the life of Madame de Maintenon who created with the help of Louis XIV a school for young girls. This could seem dreadful and it is not. This movie is something inbetween Full Metal Jacket (First part) and Barry Lyndon (Second part). It is more than the story of young girls. It deals with religion, the duality of (wo)man. It is beautiful and savage and the actresses are great (ever heard of Isabelle Huppert ?). Hope you can watch it in French because the language is perfect. Definitely worth looking. I just hope this movie will be screened all other the world. Maybe a palme in Cannes will help but I do not think Mr Besson will like that sort of movie ;-)
