The film "A Knight's Story" (2001) describes the events taking place in medieval Europe. Its colossal budget fully justified itself, and such factors as careful study of details and deep immersion in the used anachronisms ensured its unconditional success. In this sense, the directors of the film used a new and truly revolutionary methodology for Hollywood. After all, modern choreography and musical compositions have little correlation in time with the plot of the story.
Eloquent evidence of the successful implementation of the film project for Hollywood is precisely the financial indicator. And the very fact that the company that released The Knight's Story was satisfied with the level of profit speaks for itself of the genuine interest in the film on the part of the world cinematographic community.
According to the majority of viewers, it was their emotional connection with the main character, ensured by the fact that he appears on the screen first in childhood, and then as a matured young man and the creative synthesis of modernity and the Middle Ages that ensured this film a great success.
Story line
Medieval Europe of the 14th century was famous for its knightly tournaments. These solemnly furnished competitions were held with swords and spears, in foot and horse duels. William Thatcher is the squire of the knight Sir Ector, who, after several victories, is mortally wounded and dies.
William decides to substitute, disguised in the armor of his master, and wins. Drunk with success, he persuades the servants of Sir Ector (Roland and Wat) to keep the winnings (13 florins in silver) and not give away the secret of their comrade. On the way to Rouen, where Thatcher is going to participate in the tournament, the company meets the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who is literate and literate. He agrees to draw up a letter of nobility for Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland. For a cleverly designed identity substitution, William promises to solve Jeffrey's problems associated with a certain Simon and Peter selling indulgences.
At the tournament, the newly-minted knight wins victories with swords and spears. However, during the fights, his armor was significantly damaged, and to repair them, he turns to the services of a blacksmith, which is the woman Kate. After another victory and a merciful act associated with Sir Thomas Colville, who asked "Ulrich" to keep him honor at the expense of the premature end of the fight, he won over Lady Jocelyn and turned against himself Count Ademar - the current tournament winner and commander of the free squads.
And then there was a duel between William and Ademar, in which, after a stubborn competition, the count nevertheless emerged victorious. During the presentation of Lady Jocelyn's prizes, Ademar hurts William's pride, and he vows to take revenge on the offender in the next tournament. Kate prepares new armor for the imaginary knight, which is particularly light and durable. In addition, she teaches the young man the art of dancing, because he will take part in the evening ball held in honor of the end of the tournament.
After the next tournament and the victory won in it, William arrives in London, where the strongest knights of Europe converge in fights. In the capital of England, a young man decides to visit his father, a roofer, who has lost his sight. Ademar tracks him down and finds out that he does not belong to the aristocratic class and is not a knight. He is arrested and chained to a pillory, where an angry crowd is about to tear him to pieces. However, Prince Edward, who was personally acquainted with William from the last tournament, intervenes and frees the prisoner, assigning him a knighthood in honor of the valor that he himself saw in him. Now William Thatcher is called sir and is a full-fledged participant in the solemn lists.
The final duel between the young fighter and the experienced Ademar is full of intrigue and excitement. The count uses a forbidden trick, taking a sharpened rather than blunt point for his spear. Jeffrey reveals the real name of his current master in his opening speech. And William, after two losses in the races before the decisive battle, where he needs to knock the opponent out of the saddle, takes off his armor and rigidly fixes the spear to himself in order to avoid knocking it out during the skirmish of the riders.
In the crowd, the young knight sees Jocelyn and his father, which inspires him to win. And she is won. Moreover, Ademar is mortally wounded, and the tournament ends with the wedding of young people in love.
Heath Ledger
The main male role in this historical tape was played by the Australian actor Heath Ledger, who in his homeland could not achieve any significant results in his professional activities. But in Hollywood, where he moved after a while with his family, happiness smiled at him in full measure.
Before The Knight's Story, the actor's filmography was filled with such Hollywood film projects as 10 Reasons to Hate and The Patriot. Moreover, despite his "stellar" character, his comrades on the set always spoke of him with great warmth and cordiality.
Nowadays it is already possible to say with confidence that the painting "The Story of a Knight" has become for Heath Ledger a landmark moment in his creative career. After all, after her, he quickly and firmly established himself in the circle of America's cinematic elite. Subsequently, the "Australian" replenished his professional portfolio with films of different genres. He actively starred in both action films and comedies.
Colleagues in the creative department always note his willingness to perform all the tricks on his own, which he did in the adventure drama "The Story of a Knight", where, by the way, it was not without physical injuries, which, fortunately, were not serious.
Shannin Sossamon
Since the genre of the film itself implies the presence of a romantic story, it took a worthy performer of the main female role to shoot it. It is noteworthy that the aspiring actress Shannin Sossamon was practically unknown to the cinematic public before this film work. By the way, it should be noted that this picture for many of the actors from the cast became the debut in their creative careers.
The very same Shennin was on the samples of the film project "A Knight's Story" quite by accident. After all, a Hawaiian native living in California was going to become a dancer, and caught the eye of a casting agent while working as a DJ at a party. Debut film work immediately made Shannin recognizable, and even despite the criticism of experts regarding her "mediocre acting", she got into the right "stream" and subsequently was able to participate in many popular film projects, starting with the youth film "40 days and 40 nights" in 2002 year.
Paul Bettany and supporting actors
It is noteworthy that the character of the English poet Jeffrey Chaucer is not fictional at all, but really existed. The candidacy of Paul Bettany was accepted by the American filmmaker Brian Helgeland almost immediately. After all, before this Hollywood debut, he already had a serious track record in his native England.
After a successful start in Hollywood with the film "A Knight's Story", he was noted for film works in such successful projects as "A Beautiful Mind", "Dogville", "The Da Vinci Code", "Legion", "Iron Man", "The Avengers" and "Supremacy ".
Supporting actors in The Knight's Tale include Mark Eddie (Roland), Alan Tudik (Wett), Rufus Sewell (Earl Ademar), James Purefoy (The Black Prince). By the way, the last of these heroes, like the English poet, is a real historical character.
In addition, actors Berenice Bejo, Christopher Keyznov, Laura Fraser and others took part in the filming of the film.
