Marguerite, film review: A handsomely shot period affair with all the trimmings

(15) Xavier Giannoli, 129 mins. Starring: Catherine Frot, André Marcon, Michel Fau

Catherine Frot stars as Margaret Dumont, a well-heeled, middle-aged French aristocrat who believes that she is a talented opera singer

Margaret Dumont was the butt of the joke in many of the Marx brothers' movies. One guesses she must at least partly have inspired Xavier Giannoli's 1920s-set tragi-comedy. Catherine Frot plays Marguerite Dumont, a well-heeled, middle-aged French aristocrat who, for some reason, believes that she is a talented opera singer.

In fact, her voice is hideous. For their different reasons, her husband, her man servant, some young radicals and a music teacher all indulge her in her delusion.

This is a surprisingly subtle and probing film. Marguerite isn't just the object of ridicule. She is the heroine of the story. There is something magnificent about her dedication to her singing and her refusal to recognise her limitations. Her desire to perform goes well beyond simple vanity. As a wife who yearns for the love and respect of a husband who neglects her, she is like one of those ill-starred characters in the operas she so cherishes.

Marguerite is a handsomely shot period affair with all the trimmings. At its core, though, it is a very delicate study of a woman who refuses to accept any of the constraints that her class, gender or lack of talent should place on her. She is so heartfelt in what she does that viewers, like the characters in the film, will feel awkward and embarrassed at even thinking of laughing at her.