The King's Daughter

Some think this might be William Hurt's last movie but it isn't. The filming was done in 2014, seven years before his death, but was only released in 2022. He plays a priest that was the confessor to France's King Louis XIV in the 17th century.

The crux of the story is that the King's doctor thinks Mermaids have a magical quality and if they can catch one and dissect it then they can bestow the King with immortality at the next total solar eclipse, to occur in a few days.

Other than the King, his Confessor, his doctor, and the Mermaid, the pivotal character is a young lady who thinks she is an orphan and has spent her life growing up in a strict convent. She is in fact the King's daughter, her mother died right after childbirth, the public does not know about her. She has always had an affinity for the sea and finds that she and the Mermaid bond easily.

As with all fairy tales there is an underlying message about humanity, in this one it is the King arriving at the point where he no longer cares only about himself. My wife and I enjoyed it at home, streaming on FreeTV with a few commercials. We enjoyed it, we were entertained.