MovieChat Forums > Ladyhawke (1985) Discussion > Were they married?

Were they married?

posted 16 years ago by Last_Starfighter
20 replies | jump to latest

*WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS!*

So this might be an obvious question, but I noticed last time I watched this that when Imperius is telling Mouse the story of Navarre and Isabeau he says that whole thing about them confessing their secret vows to a priest (whom we know is him) and I was wondering does this mean that Isabeau and Navarre were secretly married? Because then Imperius kind of brings the whole story full circle when Mouse adds the part about 'always together eternally apart" Imperius adds "as long as they both shall live" as kind of a dark ironic shadow of the wedding vows. I could just be imagining things but I feel like they are hinting at them being married...because what other kind of secret vow would they be professing to the priest? You wouldn't go to a priest and say "We are vowing that we will date each other." Or "We vow that we love each other". THe only thing that would make sense is if they were married in secret and that always would be the only thing that would make the Bishop so angry that he would curse the woman he 'loves' meaning that he couldn't be with her. If it was only him finding out that Navarre and Isabeau loved each other from the priest then I would imagine he probably would be mightily angry but he would have tried to break them up or steal him from Navarre instead of making it impossible for him to have her by making her a 'Ladyhawke' with a conveniant wolf to guard her :) I feel like marriage would be the only answer as to why he wouldn't try to steal her, because of marriage having the sanctity of heaven and all of that.
(although you'd think he would get the fact that probably cursing someone using 'the evil one' is just about as bad as soiling the sanctity of marriage!)
SO anyway, these are just my thoughts and I was curious what everyone else thought...probably even if people disagree with me I will still think they were married...it makes it even sweeter when they can finally be together again in the end. :)

AMAZING MOVIE...seriously I think it's one of the best movies I have ever seen.

[–] kevink45 16 years ago

I think that they both told Imperious that they were in love during confession. Later, when the Bishop was hearing confessions from the clergy Imperious was drunk and blabbed what he'd heard from Navarre and Isabeau, which is a major no-no. Priests aren't supposed to repeat what they hear in confession.
Anyway, I don't think they were married when the bishop cursed them.
They knew that the bishop wanted Isabeau, I'll bet they were planning to have Imperious marry them in a very private ceremony and leave town right promptly for a looong honeymoon someplace far far away, before things went all haywire on them

[–] cagordon22 15 years ago

I don't think they were married, either. People made all sorts of very serious vows back then, and vowing to love one another exclusively was a common one.

Plus, from the acting standpoint, Navarre and Isabeau certainly seem to be grieving not just the loss of each other but also all that their relationship COULD have been, including marriage and the implied physical intimacy included therein - they don't IMO seem to be missing what they had once known.

In other words - their passion for one another seemed to be unrequited, to put it delicately.

It's well known in theatre that the hottest chemistry blazes between two characters who have not yet consummated their love. This is the way their love seems to be - not yet physically consummated.

[–] tjklaehn 15 years ago

The characters never address or speak of each other as husband and wife.

A religious betrothal ceremony was common in medieval times. It was taken very seriously and actually required a divorce to break. A secret betrothal would fit in well with Father Imperius's narrative.

cagordon22's comments are very insightful.

[–] Seymour-Pats 15 years ago

I don't believe that they were married, but that certainly doesn't mean they didn't sleep together. Imperius says that they fled from Aquilla, so they were travelling together, and presumably sleeping in the same quarters (if for no other reason than for her protection). It seems likely that they slept together.

[–] glr-beltran 15 years ago

They can´t touch each other,that was the reason of their anguish..and I suppose she was a very virtuous woman..

[–] Seymour-Pats 15 years ago

They couldn't touch after the bishop made the pact with the devil, but Imperious says that they fled from Aquila the bishop followed "never more than an hour behind...." Then later in the story, Imperious says that he made the pact. So it seemed to me that Isabeau and Navarre were travelling together before the curse was cast and were therefore sleeping in the same quarters.

[–] glr-beltran 15 years ago

I don´t think they´ll have time to sleep,they were chased by the whole Bishop´s army...read the book..and this is like a fairy tale,so there is no sex at all,less without marriage!

[–] Seymour-Pats 15 years ago

I wasn't going on the book, just the movie. I'm also not trying to suggest that they definitely did sleep together before the curse. I just think chastity wasn't an issue that was addressed in the movie, unlike in Twilight, where it is a main theme. It was never mentioned, so maybe they did and maybe they didn't.

[–] glr-beltran 15 years ago

ʹve a more romantic vision of Middle Ages,that Amour Courtuois-style affair..

[–] Tekawitha 12 years ago

yes, they were married. you find it in the book, and there is a direct reference to the marriage somewhere in the movie...i dont recall where, my copy is a tape (waaaa, gotta get a DVD ASAP!).

~*~~*~

"Ooh!Pass the popcorn! This is gonna be good!"

[–] surfacelight 14 years ago

Imperious said The Bishop damned the "lovers." To me, that sounds like they weren't married and were sleeping together.

Never underestimate the importance of hope and a good sense of humor.

[–] syntinen 14 years ago

In a medieval context "lovers" = "two people who love each other", and has no implication that they are or have been sleeping together.

[–] kraisins-1 14 years ago

I think injecting that kind of relationship into the film downgrades the level of unrequited passion it's trying to show.

Lovesr as in "they were in love' but never together long enough to be sexually intimate.

[–] emp1966 14 years ago

Remember this film takes place in the 14th century, "the rules" were different then. But to answer the question, there is never a mention of marriage in the story.

[–] Clusium 14 years ago

I've always interpreted that they secretly got married, when Imperious told Mouse the story of how Navarre & Isabeau became cursed to transform into a hawk & a werewolf.

[–] Sofistali 13 years ago

Secret betrothal makes the most sense. It covers "vows" but not yet "marriage."

[–] astockton_uk 8 years ago

Navarre is only a wolf, not a werewolf.

[–] apolnest 13 years ago

I think they were secretly engage. And they were on their secret wedding ceremony when the Bishop curse them.

[–] Cacri 12 years ago

I believe they exchanged love vows but were not yet married. In the story she was the daughter of a count, a noble woman by birth; Navarre was the captain of the guards, a man of honour (check the scene where he speaks to the Mouse about his sword and the deep signficance of each stone on it). Given all this I imagine Navarre wouldn't dream of sleeping with Isabeau without marriage first. Yes, the fled Aquila together to escape the Bishop's wrath and no doubt hoping to get married later on. watching the film they don't strike me as two people who have been sleeping together.

[–] R_Kane (15828) a year ago

A partnership is more powerful than a marriage. A partnership is an intimate spiritual bond. A marriage is a contract.

These 2 were an immutably melded partnership that none could put asunder. I cannot even image how to recast the couple today.