Untamable Angélique – Indomptable Angélique (1967)

Directed by: 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, but not this time. 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 own 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 redeem her as a Christian, but this fails.

Jeoffrey de Peyrac, meanwhile, has learned that his wife is desperately looking for him and stops ships to inquire. He does this in between all the activity. As a ‘Rescator’ he raids French ships and frees the galley slaves. With this he tries to harm the French merchant navy and navy and in this way to take revenge on Louis XIV for his sentence to death, the confiscation of his goods and the fact that the king courted Angélique in his absence.

This episode is also 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 very appealing. The psychological fight between the captain and Angélique is exciting and devoid of any sweetness. Also interesting is the struggle between Muslims and Christians, which manifests itself in various ways. The scientific and technical ingenuity that can be found in every episode is best illustrated here by the diving bell that helps Jeoffrey reach his secret abode. A fine adventure film with a rich design, cultural clashes and a few serious touches that provide extra tension.