Arnaud des Pallières's dreary French costume drama might have been called Robin Hood And His Very Un-Merry Men.

The film is almost monotonously somber, though not in a bad way -- when it erupts into violence or settles briefly into moments of intimacy, the shift in tone can be surprising, even invigorating.

It can be quite powerful on the rare occasions when it allows raw emotion to make its way to the surface.

There's little to distract one from this drab literary adaptation's ponderous pace and washed out palette - even the great Dane himself.