Review: Untamable Angélique – Indomptable Angélique (1967)

Director: Bernard Borderie | 83 minutes | adventure | Actors: Michèle Mercier, Robert Hossein, Roger Pigaut, Christian Rode, Ettore Mani, Bruno Dietrich, Pasquale Martino, Sieghardt Rupp

In the previous episodes, Angélique’s perilous adventures always fizzled out, this time not. During her search for her husband, she falls into the hands of pirates. The captain (Bruno Dietrich) hates women and sees his chance to tame this free-spirited and beautiful woman in his way. And that’s not all, he then sells her at a slave auction against the highest bidder. The Maltese knights make another attempt to ransom her as a Christian, but this fails.

Jeoffrey de Peyrac has meanwhile found out that his wife is desperate for him and keeps ships to inquire. He does this in between all the hustle and bustle. As a ‘Rescator’ he raids French ships and frees the galley slaves. In doing so, he tries to harm the French merchant navy and navy and thus take revenge on Louis XIV for his death sentence, the confiscation of his property and the fact that the king courted Angélique in his absence.

This episode can also be called anything but boring and especially the sea battles and the way in which life on board a galley ship that moves through the inhuman effort of slaves or life on board a pirate ship is depicted is very appealing. The psychological fight between the captain and Angélique is exciting and devoid of any sweetness. Also interesting is the battle between Muslims and Christians, which manifests itself in all kinds of ways. The scientific and technical ingenuity that can be found in every episode is best portrayed here by the diving bell with which Jeoffrey manages to reach his secret abode. A nice adventure film with a rich design, cultural clashes and a few serious touches that provide extra tension.