Sunday 22nd March at 3.15pm & 7.15pm
La Tulipe noirE 1964 (U)
Englsih Title: The Black Tulip
Director: christian-jaques
Run Time 1h 55mins
A shining example of a lavish French historical drama with a great sense of fun, staring Alan Delon – twice! – in the perfect marriage of comedy and swash-buckling adventure
Guillame de Saint Preuxin is a French Revolution-era Count who leads double life as the masked bandit “Black Tulip” and holds the surroundings of the village of Roussillon in fear. The poor people respect him as a revoluionary Robin Hood, but when the Black Tulip is injured in a fight he pursuades his brother to impersonate him and take on the role. When his brother discovers the Count’s selfish motives it sparks conflict between them.
Excellently choreographed fight scenes and sumptuous cinematography combine with director Christian-Jaques’ perfectionism and unwillingness to compromise, which pushed Delon to his limits. He realises the different characters of the two brothers so well, one a tender flawed hero, the other a cynical anti-hero, and they are edited together on screen so expertly, it is hard to believe they are being played by the same iconic actor.
La Tulipe Noir manages to straddle the notoriously difficult divide between serious drama and outright farce, with plenty of light comedic touches and deft character performaces, to turn in a timeless classic.
Trailer for La Tulipe Noir/The Black Tulip
book tickets for la tulipe noir
Tickets cost £6