The Princess of Montpensier

A satisfying historical costume drama, with ample crossings of swords and lovers’ stars, and a tad of brutal, pointless 16th-century religious warfare for context. The title character is a teenaged French heiress (Mélanie Thierry), whose arranged marriage to a shy prince (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) is complicated by her preference for a swashbuckler cousin (Gaspard Ulliel), not to mention the increased affection being aimed her way by a rakish duke (Raphael Personnaz) and by the prince’s former tutor (Lambert Wilson), a war deserter. Co-scripting with François-Olivier Rousseau and Jean Cosmos, director Bertrand Tavernier adapts Madame de La Fayette’s 1662 novella with verve and rare wit. Tavernier keeps some distance from the action, coolly recording it all with a patient sweep of tracking shots, but the performers fill in the essential intimacy with wisdom and subtle confidence.