La Fille de D'Artagnan

1654, the South of France. When horsemen follow a runaway black slave into the convent where he's taken sanctuary and kill both the fugitive and the Mother Superior, they little realise that one of the novices is Eloïse (Marceau), spirited sprog of retired musketeer D'Artagnan (Noiret). Suspecting that the murders are somehow linked to a plot against Louis XIV, the girl dons buckskins and sword and rides off, accompanied by an adoring poet (Tavernier) acquired en route, to ask her dad to protect the boy king. Only when the headstrong Eloïse seems set to fall into the hands of the villainous Duc de Crassac (Rich) and his scarlet mistress (Kady) does D'Artagnan return to the fray. Tavernier's swashbuckler never quite turns into parody and never quite plays it straight. Sadly, it never quite takes off, either. Yes, it's as good-natured and elegant to look at as one might expect, but the leisurely pace sags at times, and the two main conceits - centring the film on a feisty female and stressing the way age has affected the musketeers' skills and ideals - are hardly original. Good swordplay, but a bit too much breezy banter.