Customer Reviews

Moliere - (Laurent Tirard - Director) (Original French Version - with English Subtitles)

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'Molière' is a treat for the eyes as well as a tickler for historical manipulation and in the hands of writers Laurent Tirard and Grégoire Vigneron the cinematic version of the 'lost years' of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin AKA Molière's life abounds in superb entertainment. If the story becomes a bit too convoluted at times, trying to paste together a story that parallels the French playwright's most famous plays, `Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' and `Tartuffe' as the basis for the missing portion of Molière's life, and drags on a bit too long at two hours, it is never less that gorgeous to look at and witty to hear.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin or Molière (Romain Duris) is an actor and playwright for a comedy troupe that tours the provinces of France, spending himself into debtor's prison. His mysterious disappearance from prison is the time this film uses to explain how Molière was enticed by the wealthy M. Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini) to travel to his estate for the purpose of teaching the dilettante how to write plays and to act in order to win the affection of a wealthy young Célimène (Ludivine Sagnier) while keeping his daughter and his wife Elmire (Laura Morante) at bay. There are many subplots that tend to distract but in the end the 'play' created by Molière's presence and interaction with all of the other characters provides the life lessons and food for material that leads Molière to be the greatest of French playwrights.

The cast is superb, the visual effects are opulent, the musical score is period correct, and the cinematography finds a fine balance between the lush vistas of the countryside and estates and the grimy realism of the prison and small theaters. Perhaps the story is not historically correct, but no one really knows the true events in the missing portion of Molière's life, and this version is at least plausible and thought provoking. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, January 08

Moliére is the cinematic equivalent of a banquet of rich French delicacies. Every aspect of this film is exquisite - from the writing and directing to the sets and costumes. The cast is amazing.

This is a fanciful biography of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a.k.a. Moliére, the 17th century French playwright. History tells us that a very young Moliére was tossed into debtor's prison when his theater troupe went bankrupt. After his release from prison Moliére disappeared for a period of time. After he reappeared he spent 13 years touring, practicing his craft and making his name throughout the provinces of France before he conquered Paris. The film deals with the period of Moliére's disappearance. It takes the stance that the people he met and the adventures he had during this time were the inspiration for some of the most famous comedic plays in Western literature. Much of the action presented in the film combines characters, situations and devices taken directly from Moliére's works, notably `Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' and `Tartuffe.'

On the farcical side, our Moliére has been freed from debtor's prison by Monsieur Jourdain who wants Moliére to teach him to act in order that he may romantically impress a certain young widowed Marquise with a one act play he has written in her honor. Jourdain needs Moliére in his home, but he can't reveal the true reason to his wife. So Moliére is disguised as Tartuffe, a priest who will serve as tutor to the youngest Jourdain daughter. Jourdain's plans for seduction also depend on the assistance of his confidante, the impoverished nobleman, Dorante. Meanwhile, Moliére/Tartuffe is developing a romantic interest in Jourdain's wife, Elmire. A pair of young lovers, Jourdain's daughter and her music teacher further complicate the action.

The story is modern, stylish and sexy, with comic and tragic elements that will charm you and hold your interest. You don't have to be a fan of 17th century French theater to appreciate it. However, if you're familiar with the plays, this movie will have more meaning as the dialog is packed with quotes from Moliére's work.

The DVD comes with a highly informative and entertaining commentary (in English) by director, Laurent Tirard. A "Making of...." feature is included, but doesn't add much to the package.

The film was mastered in HD. It's visually perfect.

In French with English or Spanish subtitles. Highly recommended!

This summer of movies has featured two historical romances in which two famous writers become who they are. The first movie, "Becoming Jane" is based upon the life of Jane Austen and shows her discovering her themes as a novelist as a result of a failed romance. The other movie, "Moliere" was released 2006 in France but was only recently released with English subtitles in the United States. I found it much more inspiring and entertaining than its counterpart.

The story takes place at two times in Moliere's life: when he is on the verge of his artistic sucess upon being called to the court and thirteen years earlier when, as the leader of a wandering group of comedians, he is thrown into a debtor's prision. The plot becomes elegantly tangled. Moliere is rescued from prison by a nameless French nobleman who wants his assistance in producing a play to seduce a beautiful, fickle young coquette. He is brought into the house in the guise of a priest named "Tartuffe" and immediately arouses the suspicion of the nobleman's wife. The wife becomes attracted to the much younger Moliere when she chances upon some writing he has done for her husband, and, yes, the two begin an affair. Meanwhile Moliere rescuses his rescuer from a conniving neighbor who takes his money, has designs upon his son as a wife for his daughter, and tries to foist his own attentions on the lovely coquette. Moliere's cleverness thwarts these attempts, while Moliere also seeks forgiveness for cuckolding his benefactor. The benefactor shows a great deal of character development from an fop and a seducer to one who realizes the error of his ways.

But the highlight of the plot is they way the experience, and his relationship with the Countess, influences Moliere. Throughout the movie, Moliere is portrayed as a frustrated tragedian who longs to do great things but fears they cannot be accomplished through comedy. The Countess twice forcefully tells him to persevere through all vicissitudes in his calling as a playright -- and to stick with his genius for comedy. When Moliere says that comedy cannot be meaningful, she tells him to invent comedy that can. The point is brought home convincingly.

The manners, set, and acting in this film are beautiful and the subtitles are easy to read. I thought this movie an excellent period piece about the great French writer of comic drama with an inspiring moral for the viewer.

120 minutes
in French with subtitles

Robin Friedman

Director/Writer Laurent Tirard and co-writer Grégoire Vigneron have wisely decided to make this film about a short period of Moliere's (a can this actor do no wrong, Romain Duris?) life rather than attempt to make a survey film about Moliere's entire life. As such this "Moliere" sketches in the mysterious lost years of Jean Baptiste Poquelin's life and mostly to good advantage.
Physically "Moliere" is an absolutely sumptuous affair: all plush velvet and silks, shot in remarkably gorgeous saturated color. Also on the plus side is the performance of Romain Duris ("The Beat that My Heart Skipped") as Moliere as well as the Elmire Jourdain (wife of M. Jourdain who has hired Moliere to teach him the fine points of acting and seduction so that he can seduce another woman) of the perpetually sexy and sultry Laura Morente whose revealing bodice causes her husband untold consternation.
Duris plays Moliere in the grand style: artificial, over-the-top as if he were in a Moliere farce. In most movies this would be completely out of place but here it works as the writers have incorporated pieces of several Moliere plays herein and Duris merely goes with the proverbial flow. His Moliere is at turns confident, sure of himself and at others completely at odds with the world and flummoxed by pretty much everything. Duris's Moliere is a fine tuned performance: a completely controlled one full of absurdity and irony yet always human and thoughtful.
"Moliere" goes on a bit too long and Tirard's attempt to make this a Moliere farce at times falls flat but nonetheless this is a good film with better performances and without a doubt a feast for the eyes if not always for the ears.

Easier said than done, of course. The beautiful Madame Elmire Jourdain provides a tragic curtain call, foreshadowed in the first scenes of "Molière", but most of the film is pure Comedie Franēaise farce, and at times a farce within a farce, on the model of both Shakespeare and "Shakespeare in Love." And the farce is funny, consistently funny; the script is clever, the actors are generously skilled at physical comedy, and the director knows a great deal about comic timing. Add the attraction of gorgeous visuals and crafty camera-work, and you have a 'balmy night's entertainment.' Don't be fool enough to ask for more than that.

This is not a filmed rendition of a stage play by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), known as Molière. There are elements of Tartuffe and of The Bourgeois Gentleman in the script, but the narrative is a fictional account of the young playwright discovering his true vocation of comedy amid a ludicrous double seduction. French theater of the 17th C was still solidly built on the Italian models of the commedia dell'arte -- Punch and Judy, if you will -- and this modern comedy revives the spirit of Baroque theater without becoming any sort of museum piece. The only flaw in the production, to my mind, is the goopy 'Hollywood' musical score. With such luscious sets and costumes of the highest authenticity, a score of equally luscious music by Lully would have given me raptures.

It's in French, of course, with well-done subtitles in English and Spanish. A lot more enjoyable, I'd say, than "Die Hard XIX" or "Harry Potter and the Scrofulous Columbarium".

`Molière' is delightful. Yes, the man, the French playwright, who has given us great farcical gems, but the movie, too. Whimsical, playful, and every bit endearing, `Molière ' draws from two historically missing years in the famous man's life and does fanciful conjecture much the way 'Shakespeare in Love' did for the great Bard of Stratford.

In the "Special Features" portion, director and co-writer, Laurent Tirard, explains that they indeed fill in the blanks for his missing life by having the playwright meet the people who later will become characters in his plays.

At first we see the man starchily serious. He tries to sell tragedies to an acting troupe who more objectively know their best suit. The king offers his patronage, but is as wise as his actors for insisting he stick to farces. On tour, people throw food at the writer, who is acting in one of his own plays, trying to play it straight. It is only when a performance is interrupted by the police that Moliere comes to his senses. Confronted about his debt, he makes sport of the police, earning his first laughs and cheers of the evening.

In a way he garners his "out of jail free" card. For a wealthy patron, Mssr. Jourdain (Fabrice Lucini) has seen his performance and sees his potential. He gives Moliere an offer he can't refuse: He'll support him and get him out of prison, but Moliere must perform a play he has written for his beloved wife. He's loathe to the idea until Jourdain threatens to put him back in debtors' prison. Yet, his biggest challenge is trying to stay hidden from his wife, so she will be surprised.

It doesn't take long for Moliere to be discovered by Caroline Jourdain, but he rises to the occasion by hiding under an assumed name, "Tartuffe," and sports false pretenses as a religious zealot, sought for the family's spiritual guidance. (`Tartuffe' is the only Moliere play I've seen although I've read another.)

From here it seems ever more like Shakespeare's own `The Comedy of Errors (Signet Classics)' as romantic entanglements ensue and ripen, and people's motives for love and money are eventually sorted out. Maybe not of the same caliber, but much ado about something along those plot lines.

Not since the spirited 'Casanova' has a film been so fun and handsomely decorated. 'Moliere' is a beautiful French film that is substantive enough to relish for its laughs as well as for its inspiring connections to Moliere's plays. If you remotely enjoyed `Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story,' you will thoroughly enjoy `Molière'.

In case you were wondering it is not official and there is now a sub-genre of historical fiction films that we will call "Shakespeare in Love." These are films in which case we learn that (gasp!) the life of a famous author parallels one of their most famous works. For Wm. Shakespeare it was a mixture of "Romeo & Juliet" and "Twelfth Night." "Becoming Jane" purports to find the real Mr. Darcy in the life of Jane Austen. Here, despite a title suggesting that this is a look at the entire life of the celebrated French playwright, we discover that "Tartuffe," arguably the best of the comedies of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (the artist known as Molière), was based on a personal tragedy. This, of course, echoes the whole "laugh clown even though your heart is breaking" idea personified by Canio's "Vesti la giubba" aria from "Pagliacci," which is clearly a key element of this particular sub-genre. I bring all of this up because if I had not seen the other films cited above, then I might have a higher estimation of "Molière." Instead, I am wondering if there will be similar films made about the attendant ironies between creators and creations for the likes of Sophocles, Henrik Ibsen, or anybody else that comes to mind down to Stephen King. Just imagine the existentialist trauma of "Samuel Beckett in Love."

"Molière" begins in 1658, when the playwright and actor, played by Romain Duris, returns to Paris from touring France with his company of players. He has been given a theater by the King and instead of doing one of the farces for which he has become well known, Molière aspires to write something better. Then a young woman shows up and requests that he accompany her to the deathbed of her mother. We then go back a dozen years when Molière troupe is so bankrupt that he is thrown into prison (but not after getting a lot of laughs from his audience). Molière's is saved by the wealthy Monsieur Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini), who likes to hire experts to help with his various needs and who requires a playwright to help him rehearse a play he has written to seduce the beautiful widow Célimène (Ludivine Sagnier). The fact that Jourdain is married to Elmire (Laura Morante) requires the playwright to do so incognito. Hence he presents himself to the rest of Jourdain's family as a priest named...Tartuffe.

As was the case with "Shakespeare in Love," where the more you remembered about "Romeo & Juliet" and "Twelfth Night," the more you could appreciate what was happening in the story, the same applies here with regards to Molière's "Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur" ("Tartuffe or the Hypocrite"). For example, the name Tartuffe is not the only one to be recognized from the play and provides your first major clue as to who the playwright's love interest will be in the film. Those who are familiar with Molière's work will also see echoes of scenes from both "Le Misanthrope" ("The Misanthrope"), and "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" ("The Bourgeois Gentleman"). This is not to say that this 2007 film does not work unless you know your Molière, but rather to say that there are levels to these film only accessible to those few person.

Director Laurent Tirard ("The Story Of My Life / Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinites"), who co-wrote the screenplay with Grégoire Vigneron, is basically trying to turn the unknown part of Molière's life into one of the playwright's comedy of manners. The trick, of course, is for the cast to act this out in a much more realistic manner than we would see watching a Molière play performed on stage. Consequently the proceeding are relatively sedate and despite the inherent irony of the situation, not as comic as a Molière comedy. However, that is necessary to set up the final scenes of the film, both in the past and the "present," where things take a more serious turn. I actually liked the ending(s), considerably more than the set up. Duris' best moments are the few where his character gets to show his comic genius on stage, but it is Luchini who turns in the film's best performance as Jourdain. Since the film is in French with subtitles, that probably increases the odds that those on this side of the Pond who decide to check it out will do so because these like Molière's plays and will appreciate all the nods and winks ot his work. But those who are starting to overdose on these authors in love movies might not want to bother with another one.

To the discerning mind it should not be too difficult to apprehend the deep tragedy and anguish lurking behind all the frivolity in the plays of Molière. The female protagonist in this excellent movie puts this important point across in the most touching manner conceivable. To a Molière overwhelmed by the gravity of the circumstances, she points out that even unhappiness has its comic aspects which should not be underestimated. The dialogue in this movie is refined yet natural, with some memorable exchanges between Molière and the dashingly intelligent Madame Jourdain. The ability to integrate such literary sophistication into a movie - and that without falling prey to Hollywoodesque logorrhoea - is no small feat. Only the French would show such extraordinary sensitivity to words. As far as this reviewer is concerned, this movie deserves to be ranked among the classics.

This is hands-down one of the best movies I've seen in the past 10 years. It casts the great Jean-Baptiste Moliere in a movie that the master would have found to his liking: exceptionally funny and yet deeply moving both at the same time. Not the easiest combination to get right, I might add!

Romain Duris is absolutely brilliant as the French playwright; even aside from the myriad allusions in the story, his acting style brought back memories of reading Tartuffe and The Misanthrope and Other Plays (Signet Classics).

Fabrice Luchini is wonderful as the clueless Monsieur Jordain (the buffoon of the play who will remind many modern-day viewers of a French Enlightenment era George W. Bush!). The splendid baroque soundtrack takes you back to the 1600s and makes you feel like you were there at the artist's side.

If you enjoy movies in the spirit of Shakespeare in Love (Miramax Collector's Series), then this movie is certainly for you. Folks, as artisan biographical movies go, this one is right up there with Amadeus, Immortal Beloved and Copying Beethoven. After watching this movie, this is one comic playwright whom you'll take VERY seriously!

Moliere is by far one of my most favorite writers of all times. At school at had to learn his masterpieces and act them in front of my classmates. As I watched the movie, I was thrilled to see how the producers came with an idea of what Moliere did during a 2 year period that is not documented in any of the historical references of the period. There is humor, there is love and there is definite passion in this movie. It mixes the most remarkable materpieces of Moliere. It is a movie to treasure for all of those who like me admire Moliere and his humourous wit!