Every historical film, it seems, has certain requirements: galloping horses, characters swathed in yards of tapestry fabric, demure yet treacherous ladies-in-waiting. Mad Love has all that and more.

| Oct 31, 2018

A sumptuously-appointed account of the life of the 16th-century Spanish royal Joan of Castile.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 10, 2003

Nothing more or less than an outright bodice-ripper -- it should have ditched the artsy pretensions and revelled in the entertaining shallows.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 10, 2003

There's a little violence and lots of sex in a bid to hold our attention, but it grows monotonous after a while, as do Joan and Philip's repetitive arguments, schemes and treachery.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 3, 2002

A bodice-ripper for intellectuals.

| Sep 20, 2002

Equal parts bodice-ripper and plodding costume drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 19, 2002

Ends up being mostly about ravishing costumes, eye-filling, wide-screen production design and Joan's wacky decision to stand by her man, no matter how many times he demonstrates that he's a disloyal satyr.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 6, 2002

A sexy, peculiar and always entertaining costume drama set in Renaissance Spain, and the fact that it's based on true events somehow makes it all the more compelling.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 6, 2002

The gifted and lovely Ms. Lpez de Ayala makes Joan both an imperious queen and a passionate creature of desire.

| Sep 6, 2002

Like an Afterschool Special with costumes by Gianni Versace, Mad Love looks better than it feels.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 6, 2002

Overwrought, melodramatic bodice-ripper.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 30, 2002

An often watchable, though goofy and lurid, blast of a costume drama set in the late 15th century.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2002

If you're in the mood for impressive castles and sumptuous costumes, torch-lit processions and decorative nudity, this is the place to turn.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 29, 2002

De Ayala is required to supply too much of the energy in a film that is, overall, far too staid for its subject matter.

| Aug 29, 2002

Adroit but finally a trifle flat, Mad Love doesn't galvanize its outrage the way, say, Jane Campion might have done, but at least it possesses some.

Full Review | Aug 27, 2002

The trouble with making this queen a thoroughly modern maiden is that it also makes her appear foolish and shallow rather than, as was more likely, a victim of mental illness.

Full Review | Aug 27, 2002