Lancelot du Lac (1974)

Saw Lancelot du Lac (1974), a fairly grim film about the doomed romance between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere of the Arthurian court.  It is uncharacteristically violent, opening with some very obviously fake but very bloody beheadings and hangings and so on, but the film has a strong, 70s-ish lo-fi aesthetic, focusing on deep forests and lovely green trees.  This preoccupation with scenery leads to some almost perverse choices however.  At one point there's a climactic joust that is shot almost entirely from the waist down.  We see pounding horse hooves and the dust and horse shit on the track, but we don't see cheering crowds, we don't see the faces of the combatants.  It's the most removed and chilly treatment of a joust you'll ever see.  It's a very strange and counter-intuitive way to shoot the scene.

The whole film is like that in a way.  Major plot points occur off-screen, only revealed by dialogue post-facto.  All of the characters deliver their lines woodenly, calmly informing each other of court scheming, or making frank assertions about honor and love.  It gives the film a deliberate, ritualistic, almost frustrating cadence which seems in contrast to the sudden violence in the start of the film.  The slow, measured tone is perhaps fitting for the subject matter however.

The themes of the film revolve around duty vs love, honor vs happiness, the doomed central romance.  Lancelot is recognized as the greatest of all of the knights, and he strives for greater perfection, but his strength destroys itself.  By refusing to let his honor falter and by being unable to give up Guinevere, Lancelot destroys himself.

I gotta say also that Guinevere comes off fairly badly in this film.  She talks about how delighted she is to betray King Arthur and, in one scene, while she is bathing in preparation for a tryst with Lancelot, she is shown languidly admiring herself in a mirror.  The film does not shy away from implicating Guinevere in Lance's downfall which I think cheapens it a bit.

Edit to add: this film is also very in-line with the interests of 1970s films: the strong protagonist struggling against the expectations society.  Contrast Lancelot with the villain, Mordred, who uses guile and lackeys to accomplish his goals, whereas Lancelot is stoic, self-motivated, and does not feel the need to explain himself.

All in all a kind of frustrating film.  The central story is familiar and delivered with some art-house flair but (alas) also with some art-house austerity.  This is not a film for casual viewing.  It's slow and a bit demanding.