A sprawling, vivacious period play chronicling the Protestant Henry of Navarre's ascension from battlefield warrior to France's revered King Henri IV. Jo Baier's epic is a classic adventure film, albeit one with a fair amount of bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war in late sixteenth-century France. Catherine de Medici, the French dowager queen, calls Henry to her court in order for him to marry her daughter, thus reconciling the two warring groups. However, the Catholics slay the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and Henry—now married—must rely on all his cunning to survive and maneuver for the crown. [Palm Springs International Film Festival contributed to this article]
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A sprawling, vivacious period play chronicling the Protestant Henry of Navarre's ascension from battlefield warrior to France's revered King Henri IV. Jo Baier's epic is a classic adventure film, albeit one with a fair amount of bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war in late sixteenth-century France. Catherine de Medici, the French dowager queen, calls Henry to her court in order for him to marry her daughter, thus reconciling the two warring groups. However, the Catholics slay the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and Henry—now married—must rely on all his cunning to survive and maneuver for the crown. [Palm Springs International Film Festival contributed to this article]
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