The "host" of the house was Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), a skin-changer who could assume the shape of a large black bear or a strong human: "The man is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with.Now watch closely, see how the timid maiden of the hill clutches the gold to her breast, and see how she fights back a tear, while her hero bleeds to death in the street.One of the top-grossing films of its year (at almost $120 million), although originally threatened with an NC-17 rating hat would have considerably cut profits, star Sharon Stone""s career as a sex goddess was also revived in her copy-cat Hitchcockian murder-mystery role, similar toVertigo (1958), as an icy,femme fataleblonde - a suspected ice-pick murderess whose novel was titledLove Hurts.In the end, his excessive arrogance, violent masochism and pushing of limits led to his own downfall, and to his belief hat he had failed in his mission and duty.There is a schism and burgeoning power struggle between Admiral Coligny and the Catholic queen-mother Catherine:Catherine (whispered to son): What a wonderful man, he Admiral Coligny, if he only thought aswe do.