Jane Asher as the Empress in the Spanish 2006 film Tirant Lo Blanc aka Tirante el Blanco, The White Knight and The Maidens' Conspiracy.
It's an historical adventure film directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Casper Zafer, Esther Nubiola and Victoria Abril. The script was written by Aranda based on Tirant lo Blanch, a Valencian language chivalry novel dating to 1490, written by Joanot Martorell. It presents a highly fictionalized alternate history narrative of the events leading to the Fall of Constantinople.
The film was shot in English, and was filmed in Madrid, Istanbul, Palermo, Granada, Huelva, Barcelona and Valencia.
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In 1401, Tirant lo Blanc (Casper Zafer), a famous knight, arrives with his small but battle-hardened troops of Almogavars, to the port of Constantinople. The emperor's only son has recently been killed by the Turks and the Byzantine emperor is too old to lead his army in battle. Constantinople is under treat of a Ottoman invasion and therefore it is in desperate need of a skilful military leader. Upon arrival, Tirant is received by the emperor (Giancarlo Giannini) who makes him commander in chief of the Imperial army.
After he is presented to the empress (Jane Asher), Tirant catches a glimpse of the breasts of the emperor's only surviving child, nosebleed-prone daughter Carmesina (Esther Nubiola). A fanciful teenager who has just turn nubile, the beautiful Carmesina is also quickly smitten by the brave and handsome Tirant. Carmensina confides her love for Tirant to her guardian Ines, nicknamed the 'Placid Widow' (Victorial Abril), whose late husband was an ally of the anti-pope. The Placid Widow immediately puts down Carmensina's romantic dreams. As brave and skilful military leader as Tirant might be, he is neither of royal blood nor has a fortune of his own to aspire to marry the heiress of the empire. Carmensina's friends and confidantes, her maidens: Pleasure-of-My-Life (Leonor Watling) and Estefania (Ingrid Rubio), think otherwise. Scared of a possible Ottoman invasion, Pleasure-of-My-Life, the daughter of the court's poet, encourages Carmensina interest in Tirant as she is to inherit the throne and he is going to defend it. Estefania, another lady-in-waiting, supports Tirant's affair with Carmesina because she has fallen in love with Tirant's right-hand man Diafebus (Charlie Cox). Meanwhile, the Empress contemplates that Constantinople stands no chance against a Turkish onslaught and sees her daughter's marriage to the Sultan as the sole way to accommodate him.
In his first battle against the troops of Mehmed IV, nicknamed The Greart Turk (Rafael Amargo), Tirant scores a triumph, but he returns to the Byzantine court with a wound in one shoulder and with the Ottoman threat still looming over Constantinople. Pleasure-of-My-Life tries to consolidate Tirant's romance with the princess awakening Carmensina's desire for him. She tells the princess about a sensual dream in which Carmensina was involved with Tirant while Estefania was having sex with Diafebus. Meanwhile, the Placid Widow wants Tirant for herself, but he rebuffs her sexual advances. Estefania, now engaged to Diafebus, and Pleasure-of-My-Life let Tirant secretly enter Carmensina's bedchamber. The princess is half sleep and Tirant begins to caress her. When Carmensina realizes of Tirant's presence, she screams awakening the court. Tirant flees through a window of the tower with the help of a rope. The rope is too short and he is forced to jump from a great height breaking one of his legs. The next day, Tirant tries to hide what had occurred, simulating a fall from a horse, but he breaks his other leg and ends up bedridden.
Meanwhile, the Empress begins an affair with Hippolytus (Sid Mitchel), a young member of Tirant's entourage. The couple barely escapes being found together in bed by the emperor. A Turkish emissary arrives at the Byzantine court to ask for Carmensina's hand in marriage for Mehmed IV. The Emperors asks for a day before he can gives his consent, but Carmensina takes matters on her own hands. In broad daylight, she goes to Tirant's tent and has sex with the bedridden hero. When Carmensina refuses to marry the Great Turk because she has been with Tirant, war breaks out. In the decisive battle, Tirant kills the Turkish sultan, but he returns from the battlefields badly wounded and dies on the way back. Carmesina dies of grief. After the death of the emperor of Byzantium, Hippolytus marries the Empress and becomes the new ruler. Diafebus and Estefania sail away from Constantinople after Tirant's death.
