Revenge of the Musketeers

Revenge of the Musketeers is a 1994 French swashbuckler adventure film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and starring Sophie Marceau, Philippe Noiret, Claude Rich, and Sami Frey. Set in the seventeenth century, the film is about the daughter of the renowned swordsman D'Artagnan who keeps the spirit of the Musketeers alive by bringing together the aging members of the legendary band to oppose a plot to overthrow the King and seize power. Revenge of the Musketeers was filmed on location at the Château de Biron in Biron, Dordogne and the Château de Maisons in Maisons-Laffitte in France and in Portugal with a budget of $9.1 million. Revenge of the Musketeers was released in France on 24 August 1994, and received mixed reviews, with some reviewers applauding the film's production values, cinematography, and playful swashbuckler style and other reviewers complaining about the film's pacing. Sophie Marceau was singled out by one reviewer who felt she was "delightful in the lead, demonstrating a playful coquettishness and a mastery of the blade." Marceau did her own fencing on screen. The film went on to earn $11.6 million. In 1995, the film received César Award nominations for Best Music Written for a Film (Philippe Sarde) and Best Supporting Actor (Claude Rich). Plot In the autumn of 1654, an escaped slave is given refuge at a convent in southern France. His pursuers break into the convent, and after wounding the mother superior, they close in on their prey. One feisty novitiate, Eloise (Sophie Marceau)—the daughter of the renowned swordsman D'Artagnan (Philippe Noiret) of the famed Three Musketeers—stands up to the intruders, but is shoved aside as they ride off after the frightened slave who escaped from the evil Duke Crassac de Merindol. Eloise finds a blood-stained piece of paper (a simple laundry list) that the slave used to stop a bleeding wound, and believes it holds some secret code. When the mother superior dies, Eloise swears a sacred oath to avenge her. Dressed in men's clothes, Eloise sets out for Paris to elicit the help of her father in tracking down the murderers. At a roadside tavern, Eloise gets into a sword fight and is helped by a young poet, Quentin la Misère (Nils Tavernier), who writes her a brief love poem, "Dance, butterfly, dance". Attracted to Eloise, he accompanies her to Paris where she is reunited with her famous father, whom she hasn't seen since childhood.