Historical Films

With writer-director Christopher Guest, Parker Posey has poked fun at small-town theater, overzealous dog owners, and folk singers. Now, she takes on the Oscars, co-starring in Guest's fourth parody film, For Your Consideration. Posey has also appeared in films such as Dazed and Confused, Kicking and Screaming and The Daytrippers.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Painted Veil, from a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, and Miss Potter, about the life of the author and illustrator of Peter Rabbit.

Critic-at-large John Powers reviews a newly-released DVD of Roberto Rossellini's 1966 film The Taking of Power by Louis XIV. Originally made for Italian television, the costume-drama follows a rocky transfer of power amidst the lavish court rituals of 17th-century France.

Robert Redford's historical drama focuses on the months after President Lincoln was assassinated — and on Mary Surratt, the woman alleged to have aided the plotters. Critic David Edelstein says it's a dramatized civil-liberties lecture, both transparent and exaggerated.