MOLIÈRE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
MOLIÈRE is a sweet and silly comedy set in seventeenth century France. In a
story reminiscent of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, MOLIÈRE is a fictional tale about
the life of France's famous playwright, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière.
In this lushly filmed and gorgeously set and costumed production, Romain
Duris plays Molière. The story concerns an incident in Molière's life,
which he later uses in a farcical play to entertain the king.
In jail for his debts, Molière is befriended by Mr. Jourdain (Fabrice
Luchini, the lucky tax lawyer in INTIMATE STRANGERS), who pays Molière's
debt obligations on the condition that Molière perform a one act play in
order to win the heart of Célimène, a beautiful woman with a long line of
admirers. Célimène is played by Ludivine Sagnier, the sexy young beauty in
SWIMMING POOL. In order to trick his wife Elmire (Laura Morante), Mr.
Jourdain introduces Molière as a priest who has come to be the tutor for
their daughter.
The narrative is full of mistaken identities and romances and is filled with
various love triangles, well, love octagons is probably more accurate. Told
with almost vaudevillian slapstick, the movie is an easy one to enjoy, and,
other than requiring the reading of subtitles, asks little of its viewers.
They don't need to think a lot but just lean back and laugh.
I had a delightful time, and I was sure glad that there was no test
afterwards about who had the hots for whom. It was hard to keep it all
straight, but it was a nice confusion.
MOLIÈRE runs 2:00. The film is in French with English subtitles. It is not
rated but might be PG for some language and mature situations and would be
acceptable for kids around 9 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 3, 2007.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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