This film starts slowly but the two-hour experience is ultimately rewarding when one realises it is neither farce nor conventional comedy. It does not provoke belly laughs, there are no titillating sex scenes and action is kept to a minimum. It is an amusing drama in which the main protagonists pursue the serious business of living but with comedic results. 'Comedy is a serious business' is the underlying theme.
Moliere believes that tragedy is the only true theatre but his over-the-top declamations fail to impress and are in themselves comedic. That comedy can also illuminate the human condition is the lesson that the young Moliere learns in this fictional story.
The film has been called a French 'Shakespeare in Love'. There are parallels. The young writer is in search of a muse. He has money problems. Characters have to disguise their true identity. There is love - requited and unrequited. The unhappiness of an arranged marriage as new money wishes to acquire the social cache of a title. Art ultimately imitates life.
However, the two films are very different. 'Moliere' is a serious film which demands more of its audience. Probably most people will find it less entertaining. I found it more enlightening because it does explore the human condition through real characters whose life problems are portrayed as deadly serious. No cheap laughs here.
If I were to compare 'Moliere' with an English film it would be with 'The Clandestine Marriage'(1999). In plot, structure and tenor the two films bear a striking resemblance. Neither film is particularly funny. Each is a comedy of manners set in a country house. The amusement (a refined emotion, supposedly above the dull-witted hoi-polloi) lies in the fact that social convention has potentially trapped characters into a great unhappiness. Class and gender inequalities provide the social dynamic - Marx would approve! Both films have very few characters. Both rely on wit rather than clowning. Both present a past world which is utterly believable. Both have a slow and measured pace. Both end on a happy note after a good deal of individual sadness.
The film's historical authenticity underpins the social satire lying at the heart of Moliere plays. The bourgeois Jourdain seeks all the refinements of the noblesse - dancing, painting, swordsmanship, horsemanship, letters, manners etc., etc. (Echoed by the Timothy Spall character in 'The Clandestine Marriage').The Dorante character displays all the weaknesses of the noblesse - spendthrift idler with a distaste for any form of work - 'We acquire our fortunes from marriage, not from work.' He is a man who has the ear of the King but who is not above lowering himself in pursuit of fresh money to restore his depleted fortune. The fact that his son wants to go into business appalls him and he spends a few laboured minutes trying to deny that his own family were originally in trade. This is funny only if one understands the society in which it is set. Of course, the ancien regime expressly forbade certain elements of the noblesse from going into trade.
The theatre scenes and the internal decor of the Joudain country house are very authentic. It all feels very 17th Century. Even the sturdy unsprung coaches with their unglazed windows are spot on. Society has not yet reached the excessive refinements of the next century.
'Moliere' is sumptuously shot. The outdoor scenes are a feast for the eye. The music is very compelling, even if it is not of this period. The acting is superb and the dialogue convincing. One does not have to know about Moliere plays to realise that future characters and plots are being gestated within the fictitious story being told. Or, to put it the other way round, that the story-line is based on the later plays and characters of Moliere.
Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini and Laura Morante all give fine performances as the main protagonists. No character is allowed to descend into farce or parody. The integrity of the drama is maintained from first to last. I expect marketing this film has caused some problems and probably has led to a miss-selling of the content which will disappoint some viewers. This is not a romp film and anyone expecting one will be disappointed. It is an art-house film with a serious message. 'The Tears of Moliere' would be a more apt title.
Moliere believes that tragedy is the only true theatre but his over-the-top declamations fail to impress and are in themselves comedic. That comedy can also illuminate the human condition is the lesson that the young Moliere learns in this fictional story.
The film has been called a French 'Shakespeare in Love'. There are parallels. The young writer is in search of a muse. He has money problems. Characters have to disguise their true identity. There is love - requited and unrequited. The unhappiness of an arranged marriage as new money wishes to acquire the social cache of a title. Art ultimately imitates life.
However, the two films are very different. 'Moliere' is a serious film which demands more of its audience. Probably most people will find it less entertaining. I found it more enlightening because it does explore the human condition through real characters whose life problems are portrayed as deadly serious. No cheap laughs here.
If I were to compare 'Moliere' with an English film it would be with 'The Clandestine Marriage'(1999). In plot, structure and tenor the two films bear a striking resemblance. Neither film is particularly funny. Each is a comedy of manners set in a country house. The amusement (a refined emotion, supposedly above the dull-witted hoi-polloi) lies in the fact that social convention has potentially trapped characters into a great unhappiness. Class and gender inequalities provide the social dynamic - Marx would approve! Both films have very few characters. Both rely on wit rather than clowning. Both present a past world which is utterly believable. Both have a slow and measured pace. Both end on a happy note after a good deal of individual sadness.
The film's historical authenticity underpins the social satire lying at the heart of Moliere plays. The bourgeois Jourdain seeks all the refinements of the noblesse - dancing, painting, swordsmanship, horsemanship, letters, manners etc., etc. (Echoed by the Timothy Spall character in 'The Clandestine Marriage').The Dorante character displays all the weaknesses of the noblesse - spendthrift idler with a distaste for any form of work - 'We acquire our fortunes from marriage, not from work.' He is a man who has the ear of the King but who is not above lowering himself in pursuit of fresh money to restore his depleted fortune. The fact that his son wants to go into business appalls him and he spends a few laboured minutes trying to deny that his own family were originally in trade. This is funny only if one understands the society in which it is set. Of course, the ancien regime expressly forbade certain elements of the noblesse from going into trade.
The theatre scenes and the internal decor of the Joudain country house are very authentic. It all feels very 17th Century. Even the sturdy unsprung coaches with their unglazed windows are spot on. Society has not yet reached the excessive refinements of the next century.
'Moliere' is sumptuously shot. The outdoor scenes are a feast for the eye. The music is very compelling, even if it is not of this period. The acting is superb and the dialogue convincing. One does not have to know about Moliere plays to realise that future characters and plots are being gestated within the fictitious story being told. Or, to put it the other way round, that the story-line is based on the later plays and characters of Moliere.
Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini and Laura Morante all give fine performances as the main protagonists. No character is allowed to descend into farce or parody. The integrity of the drama is maintained from first to last. I expect marketing this film has caused some problems and probably has led to a miss-selling of the content which will disappoint some viewers. This is not a romp film and anyone expecting one will be disappointed. It is an art-house film with a serious message. 'The Tears of Moliere' would be a more apt title.