The Beloved Rogue

A breathless depiction of France's rapscallion poet, thief, and vagabond: François Villon (1431-1463). He bounds over the snowy rooftops of Paris, scales a castle tower, and is hurled skyward by the royal catapult but this is no mere stunt picture. Barrymore wields a simmering sexuality that endows the film with an element of eroticism that perfectly suits Villon, who loved, "France earnestly, Frenchwomen excessively, French wine exclusively." A...