It might be easy to confuse the effectiveness of this movie with the actors' performances. I find that script or editing is generally a culprit when things don't work well, and that may be the case here. The story line, as it's presented, feels disconnected from scene to scene. This is particularly true in the very last scene, which doesn't give us a any information whatsoever about how the King winds up in the condition he's in; we are left to make assumptions. But perhaps it doesn't matter how the king ended up as he did. Alex Corti, director, may only have wanted us to be aware that the King played out a wildly descriptive metaphor for the psychological condition that plagued him throughout the movie. The end makes sense, metaphorically. This is a significant film for Timothy Dalton because his acting is virtually devoid of posturing and hyperbole. I'm struck again and again at how authentic are his reactions, given his grasp of the King's dysfunction. Perhaps because of the story, or the expectations of the director, Dalton seems instinctively aware of the King's passion, obsessive focus and possessiveness. We don't know Dalton in his private life, but I find him most effective when he takes on characters of a dark and threatening nature. I don't think he makes one false step in this movie, which is saying a lot. Of all his films that I've seen, this one--while very dark and difficult to watch for its unrelenting obsession and depressive qualities--is his most authentic; his most believable. Over and above his performance, I don't agree with the other reviewer that Valeri Golino gives us a wooden performance with no nuance. She demonstrates early on that her character is given to spontaneous, unguarded passions; that she is naive to political protocol. Indeed, we see these qualities mature into calculated vengeance, when she has been mortally wounded by the betrayal of her husband and family, at which point she becomes ruthless--as abused victims often are, in the face of too early or horrific a trauma in their lives. She figures out how to play the game to her advantage, and given her natural eccentricity, such a discovery makes her the most dangerous player in the film. At no time, even when she is resisting/ignoring the Kings' advances, do I doubt her wild and iconoclastic streak, which says everything about Golino's performance. Indeed, the King's obsession with her seems a completely natural outgrowth of his admiration for her ability to flaunt protocol, and her intelligence. I think both performances were excellent. It's the general darkness of the script that makes it difficult to watch, and the strange, ham-handed way the director/editor has of piecing together scenes. This is not an action movie, or even a costume drama. It's a movie about dysfunctional motivations, uses and abuses of power, and in this regard the movie is a rather timeless statement on the psychology of individual and political power. Watch it and decide for yourself. Timothy Dalton and Valeri Golino will not disappoint.

The storyline of the King's Mistress may seem like your basic Barbara Cartland novel but this is not the case with this movie. It is a bit difficult to watch since it is a foreign film for the most part but the actors do a fine job and if you stay with it the story line becomes a bit surprising. If you can find it, give it a watch. And if you are expecting to lust after Dalton when you see him in that wig, forget it, he's a somewhat pitiful bad-guy in this movie and you'll end up feeling sorry for the character and again aware of what a fine actor Dalton really is. (I had to buy this movie on e-bay so you may have to look for it!)

*** spoilers *** I like historic movies very much and was made curious by the cover of this DVD, not knowing anything of the mentioned historic persons and circumstances, while the contribution of Timothy Dalton rendered a reassuring feeling of quality and trustworthiness. Well, I was not disappointed where he was concerned, Timothy Dalton gives an extremely strong performance of a king who is torn between his duty, his lust and his royal rights. This king is bored and frustrated by the servility and flattery of his court but at the same time lives up to it and considers his "droit the seigneur" as something of a God-given right. When he is crossed in this expectancy by the strong will and pride of an attractive married lady at his court, his lust turns into obsession. The story gives a fair insight in what happened in so many royal courts in those days, be it Italian, English, French or where ever: the kings sexual wish is as good as a command, and infidelity (on both sides) turns into a sophisticated and strategic game, where on the side of the elected party much is to be gained and lost (to the extent of their fortunes and lives!). The reluctance of Jeanne, who really loves her husband, is quite understandable, and it's almost appalling to witness her family-in-law pressure her to submit to the king, which she eventually does when finally even her own husband prefers the kings favour over his marital loyalty. Apart from the stunning performance of Timothy Dalton (for which alone this movie is worth watching!) and the interesting historic premise of this story, there are unfortunately much flaws in the movie. To begin with, the English dubbing of almost all of the actors is very annoying, to me it seemed as if the English voices they used were often not suited at all to the persons they were supposed to be and it sounded mostly like people reading their lines in a radio-play. The main flaw however was the part of Jeanne, played by Valeria Golino. She's a very gifted actress, I saw here recently in "Respiro", in which she really excels and has a very extrovert part (I can strongly recommend that movie!), but here (when she was much younger of course) she plays her part like a monosyllabic wooden doll, most of the time being very angry with the whole world and giving everyone (including the king) the evil eye and snubs and contempt. You never see her laugh or even smile once and although she's very attractive, this makes it very hard to understand the all-consuming obsession the king has with her, even after he finally got his way with her, and why he didn't kick her out of his bed afterwards and traded her in for a funnier playmate (with his looks and his royal rights that shouldn't have been any problem!). This brings me to the script (or the book that it was based on), I just couldn't believe the things happening! Jeanne hated her husband for not protecting her against the king and she took revenge on him and her family-in-law (so far I could understand it). But why on earth did she suddenly tried to escape from the king and ran back to her hated husband at the very moment that she discovers in herself that she may really love the king; and why did she run back to the king after he (the king) had killed her husband, and why did he (the king – are you still with me??) all of a sudden NOT want to take her back, notwithstanding the fact that she, being a widow now, was at last free and available?!? The movie gives us beautiful photography of Italian (?) surroundings and sumptuous palaces, obviously shot in authentic places, and a fair share of appealing costumes. But the historic backgrounds of the story are obscure and unfathomable, like where on earth is this little kingdom and then there were some wars that apparently were going on between some countries that we never get explained very much. The lasting feeling after viewing this movie is two-fold: one of disappointment, since it could have been so much more and better, and one of great praise for Timothy Dalton, who proves here what a great and impressive character-actor he really is, in spite of the fact that he too must have felt that he was fighting a lost cause. As for this project, he deserved much better!!

I'm anxious to see Timothy Dalton in anything he does, but this movie was not worth my time. I hung in there until the end more out of optimism that it would improve than enjoyment. Basically the king is a controlling dog and Jeanne is a, well, you know. This movie is going into the "waste of my time" category. If you want to see Timothy Dalton at his finest, rent the BBC production of Jane Eyre--now THAT is a film.