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Rita Kempley - Style section,"A bland but picturesque period romance." Go to Video Finder
In 19th-century Aix en Provence, Martinez, a member of the exiled Carbonari, escapes the clutches of an Austrian hit squad. Martinez flees through the French countryside on horseback intending to alert his fellow exiles about the assassins. In Manosque, he discovers the region is suffering from a massive epidemic of Asiatic cholera. After a noblewoman shelters him from a mob of crazy townsfolk, Martinez volunteers to help her escape to her hometown to reunite with her aging husband, the Marquis of Theus. Martinez, who has caught up with fellow exiles, has another mission: to carry a bag of money to Milan to finance the resistance. -- Desson Howe Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau Cast: Oliver Martinez; Juliette Binoche Running Time:
Top of This Movie Page Leaky 'Roof': Nice View By Desson HoweWashington Post Staff WriterMay 24, 1996 There are at least three ways to experience the South of France: Fly there. Start walking around. Read Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence." Watch "The Horseman on the Roof," a romantic epic set in places that will make your mouth water. The last, cheapest and least satisfying option is a French film (based on Jean Giono's novel) that's impressive in terms of physical beauty: the grass-scrubby mountains, the cheekbones of Gallic boy toy Olivier Martinez and the subtle features of Juliette Binoche. But the movie, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, isn't nearly as striking. In 19th-century Aix en Provence, Martinez, a member of the exiled Carbonari (an Italian secret society created to oppose the Austrian Empire) escapes the clutches of an Austrian hit squad. Martinez, who looks as though he's pouting photogenically for a Gap ad, flees through the French countryside on horseback intending to alert his fellow exiles about the assassins. In Manosque, he discovers the region is suffering from a massive epidemic of Asiatic cholera. Bodies litter the fields and roads. And the crazed survivors run around looking for scapegoats. After a noblewoman (Binoche) shelters him from a mob of crazy townsfolk, Martinez volunteers to help her escape to her hometown to reunite with her aging husband, the Marquis of Theus. Martinez, who has caught up with fellow exiles, has another mission: to carry a bag of money to Milan to finance the resistance. Their journey consists of avoiding the pestilence and carrion-plucking crows, sidestepping soldiers assigned to block the flight of refugees and staying clear of quarantine centers. But when Binoche is captured by French troops, love-smitten Martinez is obliged to surrender too. Scriptwriters Rappeneau, Nina Companeez and Jean-Claude Carriere (France's official hack-in-residence) have created a style-over-substance affair, a costume-dress potboiler that would be nothing without its landscapes. But for Francophiles without time, cash or good travel agents, this kind of armchair journey may have to suffice. THE HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF -- Contains scenes of cholera-related dying and minor sword and gun violence. In French with subtitles. Top of This Movie Page
Top of This Movie Page 'Horseman': Minus Horseplay By Rita KempleyWashington Post Staff WriterMay 24, 1996 Sun-splashed Provence is the principal attraction of "The Horseman on the Roof," a bland but picturesque period romance. Adapted from Jean Giono's 1951 novel, this pricey French import is a galloping Gallic variation on love in the time of cholera, all giddyap and the landscapes of van Gogh. Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau ("Cyrano de Bergerac"), the film opens with a splendid re-creation of an Independence Day celebration in Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 1832. Absorbed in the glorious fireworks overhead, the happy crowds neither see nor hear the shootout between Angelo Pardi (studly Olivier Martinez), an exiled Italian rebel, and his would-be Austrian assassins. One of a band of noble freedom fighters-the Carbonari-Angelo escapes on horseback and thunders off to warn his compatriots in the town of Manosque. His journey takes him through shadowed glens and ripe wheat fields, past charming farmhouses and lush olive orchards. But the picture isn't quite so pretty when he reaches Manosque, where cholera has littered the streets with bug-eyed corpses and hysterical mobs attack strangers. To avoid the pitchfork-wielding citizenry, Angelo takes to the red tile rooftops, makes friends with a cat, then slips into the attic of a seemingly deserted town house. But this house is occupied by the ravishing Marquessa Pauline de Theus (mannered Juliette Binoche), who offers the weary hunk a pot of tea, a loaf of bread and a chance to rest. When health authorities force them to leave Manosque the next day, they are briefly parted, but are soon thrown together again for a swift, sweaty excursion across the South of France, pursued by spies, traitors and French musketeers. Though they've clearly got a hankering for one another, no horseplay ensues. Their love cannot be, for she must remain true to the marquis and he to his chivalric code-he promised his mother, to whom he writes frequently. Indeed, not even a longing glance passes between this honorable pair. The only heat in this equine extravaganza comes from the fever that signals the onset of cholera. And while Binoche and Martinez are lovers in real life, they haven't developed the chemistry to cure the movie's ills-the most deadly of which is ennui. The Horseman on the Roof is rated R for nudity and gory death scenes. Top of This Movie Page
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