Movie Review : ‘Nostradamus’ Glum But Illuminating

“Nostradamus” is a rather conventional film bio of a highly unconventional man, Michel de Nostradame, the French 16th-Century physician and astrologer whose prophecies, which he first published in 1555, continue to fascinate multitudes. Filmed largely in Romania, “Nostradamus” is a handsome, intermittently involving large-scale period epic that presents Nostradame’s turbulent life and times with conviction and clarity, and it is sparked by several stunning performances.

Unfortunately, that of Turkish-born French star Tcheky Karyo in the title role is not one of them. The rugged Karyo, most familiar as the agent who trained Anne Parillaud to be an assassin in “La Femme Nikita,” radiates sensitivity and concentration, but his Nostradame is so introspective and brooding as to seem glum, almost never catching fire, an approach suitable for a Rossellini or Bresson film but not such a straightforward picture as here. When such strong personalities as F. Murray Abraham, Assumpta Serna and Amanda Plummer aren’t on screen, the film tends to become lifeless.

While obviously the film is most likely to please avid believers of Nostradamus, it does suggest to wider audiences how very perilous life could be in the 16th Century for intellectuals, a time when learning was severely proscribed by the Inquisition. Indeed, director Roger Christian and his co-writers have effectively suggested the ways in which Nostradame’s era parallels our own. The eternal conflict between science and religion that is at the heart of “Nostradamus,” for example, erupted anew in the recent world population conference in Cairo--just as the bubonic plague (which Nostradame fought with controversial natural medicines) inevitably brings to mind the AIDS epidemic.

The filmmakers depict the visions that Nostradame apparently experienced throughout his 63 years with considerable panache, most successfully when Nostradame walks down a darkened street only to be confronted with rumbling Nazi tanks. In other instances they become too literal: The poor guy can’t look into a bucket of water without seeing an atom bomb mushroom or J.F.K. at Dealey Plaza or a glimpse of Saddam Hussein.

The first half of the film is charged by Abraham as Nostradame’s aristocratic patron and fellow free-thinker and to a lesser extent by Julia Ormond as Abraham’s feminist daughter who became Nostradame’s first wife and scientific colleague. Rutger Hauer cameos as a mystic, a whimsical monk who consoles Nostradame in a period of despair.

The second half is livelier, thanks to radiant Assumpta Serna as Nostradame’s supportive but outspoken Barcelona-born second wife and by Amanda Plummer as a wonderfully astringent Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, whose patronage proves a lifesaver for Nostradame. Solidly crafted, “Nostradamus” is more consistently intelligent and illuminating than exciting or imaginative.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong sexuality and some images of violence . Times guidelines: It includes some fairly sensual scenes of lovemaking and several scenes of overall brutality .

‘Nostradamus’

Tcheky Karyo: Michel de Nostradame (Nostradamus)

Amanda Plummer: Catherine de Medici

Julia Ormond: Marie

Assumpta Serna: Anne

Rutger Hauer: Mystic Monk

F. Murray Abraham: Dr. Scalinger

An Orion Classics release of an Allied Entertainments and Vereinigte Film Partners presentation. Director Roger Christian. Producers Edward Simons, Harold Reichebner. Executive producers Peter McRae, Kent Walwin, David Mintz. Screenplay by Knut Boeser and Piers Ashworth. Based on a story by Boeser, Ashworth and Christian. Cinematographer Denis Crossan. Editor Alan Strachan. Costumes Ulla Gothe. Music Barrington Pheloung. Production designer Peter J. Hampton. Art director Christian Nicul. Set decorator Michael D. Ford. Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes.

* In limited release in Southern California.