Long synopsis : ‘Kings & Queen’ tells two separate stories. On one hand, the crowning achievement of Nora Cotterelle, young and bereaved, soon to marry a suitable man at last! On the other hand, the story of the decline and fall of Ismaël Vuillard, one of Nora’s former husbands, committed to a psychiatric home by mistake and destined to end his imprisonment in a worse state then when he began. Their stories intersect for a moment, when Nora visits Ismaël and asks him to adopt her son, Elias. Then diverge again. We follow Nora as she is forced to deal with the suffering of her sick father, an old writer. Trapped all alone in Grenoble, Nora is besieged. Long-buried memories surface… Ismaël, convinced of his own tragic destiny, fares pretty well in the hospital, experiencing his downfall and reversals with a strange joy as he passes from one grotesque experience to the next. At last, Nora and Ismaël meet again for the second and final time. He refuses to adopt Elias, telling the boy that he can do nothing for him, that he has nothing to offer. This confession of impotence will be the best and most honest gift Ismaël can give to the kid. Two disparate stories, two movies, inextricably linked: raw, comic, melancholy, mournful. Two people: Nora, a woman who dives into memories that threaten to overwhelm her, and who will find relief from all the tragedies she has been through. And Ismaël, a man caught up in a succession of burlesque adventures, imprisoned yet always rushing, unaware, towards freedom.

Cast

• Emmanuelle Devos, Geoffrey Carey, Thierry Bosc, Olivier Rabourdin, Maurice Garrel, Mathieu Amalric

Crew

• Director(s): Arnaud DESPLECHIN

• Original Title: ROIS ET REINE
• Genre(s): Comedy, Drama


• Production company: WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS, FRANCE 2 CINEMA, RHONE ALPES CINEMA
• Production date: 2004
• Language: French
• Duration: 150 min
• Image Ratio: 0.00
• Sound Info: Dolby SRD