Juliette Binoche is chilly. It is a sunny day in central London, but she has bundled herself up in a sturdy leather jacket and ordered a hot chocolate. “Thin or thick?” our waiter asks.

Meanwhile, in a palace high on a crag, his wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is besieged by suitors who are more like a hostile invasion force. When the queen finally sees her husband again ...