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Director:
Patrice Leconte
Starring: Charles Berling, Fanny Ardant, Judith Godreche
Running time: 103 minutes
Original UK Release: February 1997
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Buy the Poster!
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Showered
with awards and nominations upon its release in 1997, director
Patrice Leconte's rampantly enjoyable French period drama
ranks as one of the best foreign language movies of the last
decade.
Put aside that all too common distaste for subtitled movies
which seems to bother so many people (a baffling affliction
which immediately rules out scores of quality films) and you'll
uncover a bold, witty, intelligent and splendidly engaging
tale which is wonderfully told and supremely well acted.
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Centred on 18th century Versailles and the lascivious
courts of Louis XVI, the story revolves around the efforts
of noble but broke aristocrat Ponceludon de Malavoy
(Charles Berling) to gain the ear of the king and obtain
royal approval for a swamp-draining scheme which will
save the lives of hundreds of peasants back in his home
town.
In order to get to the king, however, he has to engage
in the elaborate rituals of the court, where wit is
the ultimate weapon and ridicule and humiliation are
more deadly than the guillotine.
The sharper the tongue, the faster the ascent up the
social ladder, so if Malavoy doesn't quickly develop
a savage wit and learn to hold his own, his unselfish
attempts to clear the swamps and so wipe out the threat
of disease back home are doomed from the start.
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Thus he
hurls himself into a cauldron of devious game-playing, vicious
back-stabbing and dangerous liaisons, swiftly falling for
the formidably seductive charms of the manipulative Countess
de Blayac (Fanny Ardant) and the beautiful but unavailable
Mathilde (Judith Godreche), both of whom tear at Malavoy's
heart, but ultimately threaten to scupper his plans.
Lovingly
photographed by Thierry Arbogast and exquisitely played out
by all concerned, Leconte's sumptuously extravagant film is
fascinating because while so much of it depends on language,
very little is actually said. The characters fire cynical
shots in all directions and the script fizzes with one-liners,
but they're just words, it's the eyes that carry the real
meaning.
This is underlined by the devious actions of the king, who
has peepholes installed so that he can secretly observe the
real goings-on in his court.
It's not surprising that in such a fantastic film there are
many performances worthy of mention, such as Bernard Giraudeau
as a viper-like cleric whom Malavoy almost immediately offends,
while Godreche's free-thinking Mathilde also catches the eye
as a young woman on the verge of a mercenary marriage to a
lecherous old man (his money will fund her research into a
primitive diving suit).
But the real stand-out is Ardant as the all-conquering Countess.
She is simply mesmerizing as a flirtatious woman of the world
who knows what she wants and exactly how to get it.
A film which positively resonates with sumptuous good looks
and memorable dialogue, Ridicule is also a significant triumph
for Leconte, who admits that when he first read Rémi
Waterhouse's script, he "had the sensation of actually
entering the 18th century by a hidden, rarely used door."
It's a door any movie-lover won't regret going through.
David
Lichtneker
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