I first saw this film - attracted by the fact it includes the excellent Timothy Dalton, a film score by Gabriel Yared, and Frederic Raphael as one of the screenplay writers - in the much abridged 90 minute version released on a Spanish DVD (fortunately including an English soundtrack). Even from this - which cuts at least 40 minutes from the original version - I could see this was a beautifully filmed and excellently acted drama. It also explains why so many comments here at IMDb suggest that the story is psychologically implausible. A more complete version of the film has just (in 2008) been released in France (lasting 127 minutes - alas for English speakers dubbed into French and naturally without subtitles): from this it is evident that for the 90 minute version bits were trimmed here and there almost throughout the film. So seeing something approaching the complete film is a revelation - a much harder and more cynical view of the main characters (particularly the king and his mistress), and it is clear that Valeria Golino's character *never* forgives the man who so grievously betrayed her (I'm expressing it in this way to avoid creating a 'spoiler'), but in fact exploits him in the end for her own purposes. All of which makes the genuine love which grows between the central characters all the more poignant and moving - there's a sense of something beautiful which has been warped and made into a destructive force by their social circumstances and the collision between social principle and unbridled yet illusionary 'power'.
Strangely enough, the French version, though more complete than the Spanish, cuts some scenes which appear in the Spanish version (one scene in particular adds a certain spice to Golino's character when the viewer is more aware of her motivations from the longer version of the film): so until either the complete German version is released, or a complete English language version is released, those who love this film will have to buy both the Spanish and the French DVDs.
Strangely enough, the French version, though more complete than the Spanish, cuts some scenes which appear in the Spanish version (one scene in particular adds a certain spice to Golino's character when the viewer is more aware of her motivations from the longer version of the film): so until either the complete German version is released, or a complete English language version is released, those who love this film will have to buy both the Spanish and the French DVDs.