Vatel

France, nearly 340 years ago - Based on true story. The King visits his Prince for the weekend. Vatel (main character) is put in charge of entertainment, banquets, accomodation. Vatel works himself to near exhaustion while still managing to fall in love with one of the King's Court ladies. This film starts very slow but heats up later on. Gerard Depardieu and Ulma Thurman are excellent as the ill-fated lovers. Lovely costuming and photography.