Marquise (1997)
Directed by Véra Belmont

Film Review

Sophie Marceau gives her all in this loose account of the life of Marquise-Thérèse de Gorla (better known by her stage name Marquise Du Parc), a French actress and ballet dancer of the mid-17th century who was one of the most prominent members of Molière's theatrical troupe. With its lavish sets and costumes, Marquise is a visually sumptuous production offering an authentic feeling recreation of the era in which it is set. Unfortunately, the quality of the design is not matched by that of the script, which somewhat lacking in substance fails to offer much in the way of an engaging narrative, with most of the characters thinly sketched and a tad shallow. The same failings seem to afflict many French dramas set in this period although Laurent Tirard's Molière (2007) and Gérard Corbiau's Le Roi danse (2000) succeed where this one fails, by fully engaging with the subject matter and taking the audience along with them. Marquise, by contrast, just seems to want to dazzle us with its lavish production values.

Véra Belmont's florid direction serves merely to emphasise the shortcomings in the writing, and far from impressing her directorial excesses tend to alienate the spectator further, making the film feel like a somewhat empty spectacle lacking in drama and human interest. In contrast with Belmont's subsequent film, Survivre avec les loups (2008), it is hard to engage either with the story or the characters. Just before the film's original release in France Sophie Marceau went out of her way to publicly denounce it, describing the mise-en-scéne as absurd and decrying her poor working relationship with the director. Marquise was made on a colossal budget (70 million francs) but it failed to find an audience and was one of the biggest flops of the decade.

Film Synopsis

17th Century France, during the reign of King Louis XIV.   Whilst visiting a provincial town, a member of Molière's acting troupe, Gros-René, discovers a beautiful street dancer, Marquise.  Realising her talent, Molière adopts her and takes her to Versailles where she will perform before the king.  Marquise becomes disillusioned when she ends up performing dances between acts.  Her ambition to become a great actress is realised not by Molière, but by his rival playwright Racine...