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The King's Whore

1990 film directed by Axel Corti

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ3212058 ↗
Source-derived summary

The King's Whore (French: La putain du roi, Italian: La puttana del re) is a 1990 drama film directed by Axel Corti, starring Timothy Dalton and Valeria Golino. It was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

Set in the 17th century, an Italian nobleman weds an impoverished countess, who is wooed by the Duke of Piedmont and faces pressure from his entire court to succumb to his wishes.

Cast

Timothy Dalton as Vittorio Amedeo II

Valeria Golino as Jeanne de Luynes

Stéphane Freiss as Le Comte di Verrua

Robin Renucci as Charles de Luynes

Margaret Tyzack as La Comtesse douairière

Eleanor David as La Reine

Paul Crauchet as Le Duc de Luynes

Amy Werba as Heloïse

Franco Valobra as Le Duc d'Aoste

Francesca Reggiani as Marie Christine

Leonardo Ruta as Le Prince Vittorio

Luigi Bonos as 2nd Priest (as Gigi Bonos)

Elisabeth Kaza as Countess Trevie (as Elizabeth Kaza)

Lea Padovani as Countess Cumiana

Anna Bonaiuto as Countess Longhi

Release

Originally picked up by Miramax Films for U.S. distribution, the film was never given the benefit of a U.S. theatrical release. The film was shown at various film festivals and in theaters overseas. The film was finally released on videocassette in 1993 by Vidmark Entertainment in the United States and in Canada by C/FP Video. In 2002, the film was released on a budget DVD by Platinum Disc.

Editorial summary

“The King's Whore” enters the record as 1990 film directed by Axel Corti. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what King's, Whore and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1990, 1993, 2002—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1990-01-01, 1991-05-30—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around King's, Whore and film.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“The King's Whore” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, King's, Whore and film provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3212058. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 1993 and 2002.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The King's Whore”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The King's Whore primary sources, The King's Whore archive and King's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The King's Whore”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The King's Whore” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.