Tristan & Isolde

With Rome gone, Britain is broken into small kingdoms paying tribute to the king of Ireland. Lord Marke is trying to unite them. His foster son Tristan is badly wounded in a fight, taken for dead and set adrift; the princess Isolde finds him on the Irish coast and nurses him without revealing who she is. They fall in love. Then Tristan wins a tournament and takes Isolde not for himself but for his king. Kevin Reynolds directed. James Franco plays Tristan, Sophia Myles plays Isolde and Rufus Sewell plays Lord Marke. The history of the project runs longer than the film. Ridley Scott wanted to adapt the legend in the mid-seventies and made Alien instead. In the late nineties it revived at 20th Century Fox with Scott as executive producer alongside his brother Tony. What Reynolds brought was an approach that placed the legend inside realistic history rather than myth. It was shot in Ireland and the weather made the production difficult: freezing temperatures, hard wind and rain caused delays and reshoots. Temporary fortifications and Dark Ages villages were built from nothing in remote areas such as Connemara. Franco trained for nine months in swordwork and riding. Who it is for: viewers who like historical romance and legends told realistically. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the enchantment of the Wagner opera. There is no love potion here; everything runs on political necessity and decision.