[Eric Rohmer's Perceval is] unique in its virtual elimination of an intermediary, modern sensibility between the artist and the myth. Rohmer is so attuned to the virtues this story celebrates and the spirit it embodies that he transforms a potential curiosity into a movie at once immediate and vital. His oneness with this material erases a distance of eight centuries….

The result of Rohmer's labor of love is a film that evokes the spirit of the Middle Ages in every frame. Perceval unfolds like a Book of Hours miraculously sprung to life. The physical movements and positioning of the actors even resemble those still life figures from engravings of the period, with their tilting bodies, inclined heads, and arms and hands extended in gestures of supplication….

Rohmer has created a glorious paradox—a highly stylized theater piece which is conceived totally in cinematic terms. The self-imposed restrictions have...