If "Jeanne du Barry" by Maïwenn received mixed reviews, some noting the few sentences uttered by the former Pirate of the Caribbean, "Firebrand" ("The Queen's game" in French) by Karim Aïnouz, presented in competition, is a fresco that should leave its royal mark on the Croisette, thanks in particular to Law's striking performance.

Like straight out of Hans Holbein's paintings, the film offers a beautiful play of lights and colors, often with freeze-frames on Jude Law and Alicia Vikander, who lends her features to Catherine Parr.

"Anthem against patriarchy"

Law is almost unrecognizable as Henry VIII who, at the end of his life, had become obese, lame due to a leg infection.

The actor manages, as in a dark fairy tale, to make very real Henry VIII, this Bluebeard who repudiated two of his wives (Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves), beheaded two others (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) and lost another in childbirth (Jane Seymour).

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, Brazilian director Karim Ainouz (C) and British actor Jude Law and before the screening of the film "Firebrand", May 21, 2023 in Cannes © Valery HACHE /

"I didn't know anything about the House of Tudor but it was the character of Catherine Parr that motivated me because no one had made a film about her. It was always about the wives who died and not the one who survived, or about the king, who was a monster," Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz told AFP.

"Jude Law really tried to embody the physique of Henry VIII. He walked for months with weights on his legs... He had back pain after filming so much he imitated the king's limp," he says, adding that the actor also read about twenty books on the monarch to appropriate the character.

In the film, described by Ainuz as a "hymn against patriarchy", Henry VIII goes into a black rage when Bishop Stephen Gardiner manages to convince him that the Queen actively supports the "new faith", at a time when the Protestant faith was gaining ground in England.

"We've been there before," he keeps repeating, the film skilfully showing how doubts gradually creep into his mind.

The rest of the cast is top-notch, including Alicia Vikander as a queen with a reputation for calming the king's stormy temper.

"She was an extremely intelligent woman ... who survived a tyrant. I can't imagine what it was like for her," the actress, known for playing an android in "Ex Machina", told AFP.

She says Jude Law's acting was so impressive that she was marked by scenes where the king "prowls around" her or looks at her differently, rather than violent scenes.

The film details her sympathy for Anne Asqew, a Protestant poet who will be burned at the stake for heresy. If there is no historical evidence, "Firebrand" shows encounters between them and the Queen's clear adherence to reform ideas, especially in a scene where she is seen praying in English and not in Latin, one of the pillars of Protestantism.

British actor Jude Law and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander before the screening of the film "Firebrand" ("The Queen's Game"), May 21, 2023 in Cannes © Valery HACHE /

Was it risky for a Brazilian director of Algerian origin to embark on a film about the English monarchy? "When Americans make a film about Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, you don't ask yourself the question," he smiles.

© 2023 AFP