The Horseman on the Roof has to be one of the most beautiful looking films I've ever seen, which is odd for a movie about a cholera epidemic.

Set in a beautiful summer in the mid-19th century, it follows Olivier Martinez's Italian in exile as he is chased across France by Austrian agents intent on killing as many Italian rebels as they can only for his pursuers to be outrun by a cholera epidemic that picks off friends and foes. Along the way his path crosses with various victims and survivors - a doctor who teaches him a neat disinfecting trick of setting your hands on fire, a cute governess, Jean Yanne's duplicitous peddler, Gerard Depardieu's paranoid mayor, and most importantly Juliette Binoche, who is determined to find her husband. Naturally they become travelling companions as they try to get through roadblocks and avoid being put into quarantine by the soldiers cordoning off the roads - a virtual death sentence - and eventually nearly become more. The film looks so good in cinemascope and so much of it is terrific than you can just about forgive the fact that the ending is a bit of a washout after everything that's gone before.

A really enjoyable old-fashioned epic, I'd definitely pick this up if it ever turned up on DVD uncut with English subtitles (the Miramax disc is typically cut by 17 minutes thanks to Harvey Scissorhands).

In 1832, a frightened France has a serious epidemic of Asiatic cholera, which is killing the population specially in the country, and Italy is invaded and dominated by Austria. In this scenery, Angelo (Oliver Martinez) is a 25 years old refined Italian colonel from a wealthy family exiled in France. He is trying to gather his exiled compatriots and return to Milan to organize the Italian resistance against Austria. Angelo is welcomed by the French noble Pauline (Julliete Binoche) in her house in a difficult moment for him, and Pauline travels together with Angelo, trying to find her missing husband in a chaotic country. Along their journey, Angelo becomes her protector, and they fall in love for each other. "Le Hussard Sur le Toit" is a delightful adventure and a sensitive romance. The story is beautiful and the platonic love and the chemistry between Angelo and Pauline are wonderful. An excellent movie, with a beautiful reconstitution of a dark period of French history and highly recommended for any audience. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Cavaleiro do Telhado e a Dama das Sombras" ("The Knight of the Roof and the Lady of the Shadows")

Having begun like most directors with small subjects Jean-Paul Rappeneau seems to have acquired a penchant for the crowded canvas given that his last three films - including this one - comprise Cyrano de Bergerac and Bon Voyage. My knowledge of the period - 1830s - is skimpy to say the least so I have no basis for questioning the authenticity or otherwise of the storyline involving both Italian patriots hiding in France and an outbreak of cholera in the Provence region but this is really academic because authentic or not it provides both a dramatic and colourful backdrop to a well-told story in which for once the Romantic element is understated. Olivier Martinez is sufficiently athletic to carry out lots of Errol Flynn-like engagements with a dozen assailants at once and come off incredibly best but he is woefully lacking in Flynn's abundant charm/charisma so it's just as well that leading lady Juliette Binoche has enough for both. Not least of its assets is the support, never more than ten or fifteen minutes in each case, from some of the finest actors in France from Isabelle Huppert to Jean Yanne to Francois Cluzot to Pierre Arditi. A fine film from a fine director.