Back in the 1960s, directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Éric Rohmer formed the nouvelle vague partly as a reaction against the staid French cinemas they described as “le cinéma de papa”.

It hasn’t gone away, you know. Bertrand Tavernier, a beloved film-maker, born a decade or so after most of the new wave directors, has, with this historical drama, delivered an undeniably handsome piece of work. It’s a shame it’s so deathly dull.

Taken from a story by Madame de La Fayette, the film concerns a princess who, during the 16th century conflict between Huguenot and Catholic, is forced to marry a man she does not love. At first, she feels able to adapt to the arrangement. When, however, her previous admirer (Gaspard Ulliel), a dashing war hero, drops by her chateau, she realises that she is still in love with him. Meanwhile a thoughtful Protestant turncoat, who is acting as her tutor, tries – despite also being besotted with the princess – to calm everyone down.

La Princesse de Montpensierdoes have its fair share of feisty swordfights and, carried off with much gusto, those sequences suggest that Tavernier could make a very good Dumas adaptation if he set his mind to it.

Unfortunately, the greater part of the film is taken up with boring conversations in gloomy corridors and on gloomier staircases. The film would, at least, make sense if the lead had some charisma. Sadly, Mélanie Thierry, who plays the princess, is about as animated and energised as a bag of wet cabbages. The New Wave did not fight their battles for this.