Cohen Media Group is releasing in several cities a full-length version of Queen Margot, the 1993 feature film by Patrice Chéreau. The movie distributed throughout the United States in 1994 was cut by 20 minutes.

A few months before his death, the director oversaw the restoration of his work from the original 35mm movie. He slightly modified the editing without changing the length of 2:40. Screened at Cannes last year, this high definition digital version beautifully showcases the chiaroscuro. The beauty of the photography, darkness and light, the flamboyant sceneries and costumes transcend the chaos of the dramatic events that carry away the protagonists. "It is with Queen Margot I learned to make movies " the theater director said, as he was already in his sixth feature film.

The movie's historical setting is the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre and Henri IV upcoming to power. Less than forty years after the events, Shakespeare has Macbeth say that life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury". He may have been thinking about this period of confusion and murderous madness. The family drama and the historical tragedy mingle together in this free adaptation of Alexandre Dumas in which we no longer wonder where are good and evil. A history of struggle for power in a decadent world made of love and hate, crimes and passions, betrayals and liberation. Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Perez, Virna Lisi and Daniel Auteuil are up to the outsized characters of this story "of sound and fury."

The Village Voice proclaims that  “Adjani’s unhinged intensity amplifies the delirium that surrounds her — the villainous actions of her scheming mother, the incestuous lust of her brothers, the endless death and rot. Chéreau magnificently orchestrates the chaos.”