The Horseman on the Roof . Tucson Weekly . 08-01-96

The Horseman on the Roof

DIRECTED BY: Jean-Paul Rappeneau

REVIEWED: 08-01-96

A beautiful-looking movie about two beautiful people clinging to each other in times of plague. Juliette Binoche is an elegant, married noblewoman; Olivier Martinez is a handsome Italian revolutionary. Together they canter across the lovely French countryside, trying to escape the ravages of Asiatic Cholera, which causes its victims to vomit on themselves, tremble violently, then expire. Not only must they escape the plague, they must escape the angry, fear-driven mobs of peasants who blame any stranger for the spread of pestilence. This seems to be another one of those movies where only beautiful people are truly wise, noble and good and everyone else is an ugly, ignorant lout. Nothing works very well in this movie, but nothing really fails either; despite all the death, it's light, pretty and insipid.

--Stacey Richter

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