much have be make of rohmer use of digital technology to fill in the background . at time it work well and the scene where grace and her maid witness from afar the king execution be particularly striking . at other time it give the film a strangely amateurish look and resemble a home video . however and the major failing be that the sheer artificiality of the mise en scene create an alienate effect in the viewer . we know that what we be watch be not real so how can we feel for the character . to be frank and i do not care at all what happen to the lady or the duke . the other major fail and i regret to say and be the performance of lucy russell in the leading role . she be in virtually every scene and the success or otherwise of the film rest on her performance . ok she be speak a foreign language but she be incapable of express real emotion . her emoting in the scene where she recount to her friend mme de meyler ( an excellent performance by the debutante helena dubiel ) see the head on a pole cause some embarrassed laughter in the audience . also and watch her hand when she be express emotion . all in all a very disappointing film and particularly give the positive review on this site .