A flesh and blood depiction of the renowned prognosticator Working from the sketchy historical details that are known about him, and taking a certain amount of dramatic license, the film "Nostradamus" chronicles the life of Michel de Nostredame (Tcheky Karyo), who came to be known more for his prophecies than for his work as a physician and an apothecary toiling against the ravages of plague-decimated 16th Century Europe.
Nostradamus was born into a Jewish family that converted to Christianity in order to escape the religious persecution of the Inquisition. Even as a small child, he was tormented by visions of events surrounding the fate of loved ones and of doomed cities in the future being torn asunder. As a young adult in medical school, he railed against the primitive practices which incorporated 'bleeding' into any treatment course. More than 30 years before the first rudimentary microscopes built by Zacharias Jansenn and Anton van Leeuwenhoek and the discovery of bacteria, Nostradamus had the foresight to burn infected clothing and to wash his hands before and after patient contact. He argued for better hygiene and nutrition as a deterrent to illness, as well as discovering a "rose pill" which aided in the treatment of early-stage plague victims. For these activities, he was brought before the Grand Inquisitor on more than one occasion for practicing the black arts.
With the assistance of his mentor, Dr. Scalinger (F. Murray Abraham), Nostradamus struggled to decipher his overpowering visions with the use of astrology and books on mysticism outlawed by the Catholic Church. Nostradamus would later serve as an advisor to Catherine de' Medici after predicting the death of her husband, King Henry II of France. In his declining years, saddled with gout, Nostradamus would sit, night after night, sleep deprived and driven to feverishly write down his prophetic quatrains. He foresaw events far into the future--one of which many would come to interpret as the rise of Hitler and World War II.
Michel Nostradamus is represented in the film as a fallible man--driven as much by base passion as loftier emotions. Often in biopics the person is represented as too saintly or too villainous. Here, Nostradamus is just a decent man struggling with the everyday problems and issues of his time. The superb supporting cast includes Rutger Hauer (The Mystic Monk), Amanda Plummer (Catherine de' Medici), Anthony Higgins (King Henry II) and Michael Gough (Jean de Remy). The cinematography is simply lush and each frame looks like it could have been lifted from a Renaissance painting.
If I have any complaint about the film (and it's a small one), it is that Nostradamus' life was so full and rich that the nearly 2 hour running time doesn't do it justice. Sometimes it felt like you were getting a rushed, "just the highlights" version of an amazing life.
Whether or not you assign merit to his prognostications, Nostradamus remains a fascinating historical figure who lived in a tumultuous and perilous era. He improved the lives of those around him at great personal risk to himself. A thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating biopic. It should be noted that this is an adults only film. There is nudity and explicit sexual behavior throughout.
Excellent Historical Dramatization The movie is excellent; however, many of the previously written reviews are disappointing. The writer of the script and director of the movie did a wonderful job of giving us not only a historical context for this enigma of a man but also an idea of what his personal life must have been like. I don't know what some critcs expect, considering all information on the personal life of Nostradamus is sketchy at best, but bringing him to life in this movie was extremely entertaining and informative if one knows how to "read between the lines" in a historical drama. Furthermore, as to the expectation of Nostradamus "doing something" with his visions, I would recommend a rigorous study of European history during the centuries of the Holy Inquisition. Anyone "seeing things" most certainly needed to keep his mouth shut! Nostradamus demonstrated great courage writing about his visions at all, hence, the complicated structure. I would very much like to see this movie on DVD; I would buy it immediately!
Michel de Nostradame, "ladies man".......... Gee, it seems all reviews up to this date I write have COMPLETELY MISSED the "obvious", and that being~
Tcheky Karyo's "Michel" is not only a "hipster-saint" mystic of those dreadful Dark Ages( but are not we are currently in a NEW DARK AGES ,"imo"...), but the ladies just can not seem to get their hands OFF our bearded stalwart "Nosti", no he is ONE HOT ITEM ! (And WHAT a cast of ladies, Julie Armond, Assumpta Serna, Maja Morgenstern,gee , even Amanda Plummer as "the Queenie" is as interesting as the other 3 mentioned are lovely).They all "dig" our boy , they were the original "groupies".
My mind was continually distracted from a quite enjoyable "historical fiction" account of the life of this legendary and enigmatic "prognosticator"~~he was NOT a "procrastinator" when it came to a bit of "back to the castle bedroom for some bouncy-bouncy". Would this "Movie Nosti" turn down a trip to the sack??(is there an alligator that would refuse the corpse???) Grrrr,"have at it", Michel !!
Our beloved (and overly medicated)"Don Juan" de Nostradame even had second thoughts when he gets a proposal from one of his aging female patients *whilst*(isnt that how they said that word then, hehe!)his hand was checking in vicinity of her mammalian apparatus for swollen lymph nodes from PLAGUE!
Excellent performances by all, great "period-piece " costumes, "medieval" soundtrack and empassioned performances, even if a bit OVER THE TOP.
A thouroughly delightful movie not meant to reveal any "truths", but should spur interest to discover the "historical" Nostradamus and just sit back and enjoy this emminently watchable film....
Shows a very human man with great prophetic powers This is one of the best movies I have seen on him. It was highly enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone wanting to add to their Nostradamus collection. This is one not to pass up.
Shows a very human man with great prophetic powers This is one of the best movies I have seen on him. It was highly enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone wanting to add to their Nostradamus collection. This is one not to pass up.
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