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5.0 out of 5 stars
A life caught between comedy and tragedy in 1660's France, April 6, 2007
The world of 1660's French Theatre and the prevailing reign of King Louis X1V are magnificently and stunningly recreated in MARQUISE, a sumptuous retelling of events in the life of one young beauty whose rise from from ignominity and poverty to be the queen of the stage results in the truest of tragedies.The cutthroat and competitive world of French Theatre was dominated by three towering figures,Moliere,Jean Racine and Peter Corneille.The music world was controlled almost exclusively by the famed Jean-Baptiste Lully.All of these men were at the beck and call of The Sun King,Louis Quatorze.It is into this world of rivalries and thespians comes a beautiful,yet quite poor Marquise,whose beauty and exquisite and alluring dancing abilities have been exploited by her parents in order that they all might survive.Marquise is discovered by the great comic author,Jean-Baptiste Poquelin,known worldwide as Moliere, and in a hastily elaborated farce to avoid arrest,Marquise is married off to Moliere's friend and France's favourite "fat comic" Gros-Rene.Marquise is brought into Moliere's company to be used as a "filler" between acts of Moliere's plays.She wows the audience,as Marquise always has,but her true desire has been to act.She is given a chance,but positively freezes on stage.Moliere is commissioned to speedily pen a play in two days for the King's birthday.He uses Marquise solely as a dancer this time.Marquise captivates the King who is stunned and flushed when she does a cartwheel in front of him exposing her lack of underpants.This comic gesture sets the stage for Marquise' rise to fame.Rival author,Jean Racine,primarily a writer of tragedies has also had his eye on Marquise,as a lover and also as an aspiring actress to advance his works in the King's eyes.Marquise gets what she is looking for in Racine, and fame becomes hers through her portrayal of Andromaque,the widow of Hector,in Racine's tragedy ANDROMAQUE.Fame,for all though,comes at a most costly and dangerous price,and the rest of this incredible film concerns itself with the lust and betrayal that is both comic and tragic at the same time in real life for Marquise,Racine,Moliere,Gros-Rene and Lully.
The sets,the costumes,the cinematography,acting and screenplay are all first rate.The soundtrack,though,under the direction of Jordi Savall,is truly a work of genius in interpretation of the era.
What makes this Vera Belmont directed period film is the amount of well researched history that will leave you wanting to learn more about this most interesting and colourful era of life and the stage under the whim of King Louis.
The film is in French with English subtitles.There is also a "dubbed" German version available.This review refers to the subtitled vhs version,which is a top-notch print in all ways.
Great companion films to MARQUISE would be ALL THE MORNINGS OF THE WORLD and STAGE BEAUTY and 2007's MOLIERE.
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