oh dang, thank you! Happy to hear that this still resonates a few years on.

Last thought: I wasn't sure whether to name Amadeus. It technically qualifies and it's one of the best films of any kind. But it's a total piece of character assassination re: Salieri; pop culture myth-making. On avg (quality vs historical value) it's part of the convo but probably not on balance.

For sure. (I personally can't stand Depardieu but that's another matter.) Many films have good advisors, doesn't mean they implement advice. And then films may listen to advisors (e.g. The Northman) & still end up questionable from a historian's perspective for other reasons. It's a set of issues.

I mean it really rather depends on what "best" film means in this context. Most accurate? Something like The Duellists ranks high in that regard. But it's difficult enough to find good pre-19th c. films to begin with, comparatively speaking and looking at the mainstream (historical = expensive).

A Royal Affair (2012), Michael Kohlhaas (2013), Elizabeth (1998), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Amadeus (1984), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The New World (2005), A Touch of Zen (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), Wolf Hall (TV, 2015) + a few by Kurosawa...

Thanks, I hope there will be something useful in it! There's plenty I didn't get to discuss and it still operates within a scope that's narrow in many ways (e.g. focus on 'works') but it's a step in one direction, so maybe some food for thought.

Indeed 😂 Although the last 100 pages or so are just bibliography. But yes it's a long read, if read cover to cover, not gonna lie, it's why I inserted chapter abstracts. So it should make some sense no matter how it's perused.

It's a very interdisciplinary work but chapter IV is focused on medieval materials (and they come up in other places as well). The main arguments build on each other; selective reading should be possible as well though, to some degree.

Thanks, I hope it's as interesting as it sounds 😂

Danke! 🤗

I will, thanks!

Oh that's amazing, good luck with those projects, I'm excited to follow along for updates!

Thanks! I'm doing alright, finally getting the mandatory publication of my thesis off my back in January. How have you been? Hope you've been well! I keep thinking that I need to catch up on your writing!