Thursday Movie Picks #258: Period Dramas

This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week, the theme is period dramas. Now, the first thing I thought of was Jill Clayburgh's scene in An Unmarried Woman when she's telling her psychologist about the time she got her first period, which is about the point I bailed on the movie. But I assume that wasn't what was ment by the topic. Instead, we're looking for dramas set in the past, known for the lush production values. Think Merchant and Ivory, although I didn't pick any of their movies.

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). Geneviève Bujold plays Anne Boleyn, who caught the fancy of England's King Henry VIII (Richard Burton). He was already married to Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), but she hadn't produced a male heir, so he tried to divorce her. This was a problem since Henry was supposed to be Catholic and Catherine most definitely was a devout Catholic. Henry gets his way by starting his own religion, but things don't go well for Anne when she fails to produce a son.

The Abdication (1974). Liv Ullmann plays Queen Christina of Sweden, the 17th century queen who abdicated her throne in order to convert to Catholicism. She moves to Rome, where a cardinal (Peter Finch) is assigned to determine whether her conversion is genuine. There's sexual tension between the two, which is a bit of a problem since the Catholic clergy is supposed to be celibate.

Valmont (1989). Colin Firth plays the title character, a playboy in the France of just before the Revolution who is approached by former lover Annette Bening to try to seduce the young fiancée of her current paramour as revenge. This leads to a bunch of complicated relationships, such as the young fiancée being in love with her music teacher, and Firth trying to be married woman Meg Tilly. It's based on the same source material as Dangerous Liaisons.