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Delve
into the tantalizing mystery behind France's greatest dramatist in the
witty, sumptuous and sophisticated romantic comedy Molière, yours to
own and rent on DVD on 12th November 2007 from Pathé Distribution
Limited.
A perfect tale of love, lust and laughter, Molière is a lavish comedy drama
with a clever, sharp script in the period tradition of ‘Shakespeare in
Love’. Directed by Laurent Tirard, the film also boasts an extraordinary
cast including Romain Duris (The Beat My Heart Skipped) as Molière
alongside Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool, 8 Women), Laura
Morante (The Son's Room), Fabrice Luchini (Le Bossu) and
Edouard Baer (L'Appartement).
In 1644, the French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin – better
known as Molière - was just twenty-two years old. Crippled with debt and
hounded by the bailiffs, he persisted in staging undeniably bad tragedies.
And then, one day, after having been imprisoned by his impatient creditors
and released, he disappeared without a trace… This story attempts to explain
the missing months of the great writer’s life before his rise to fame.
Molière (Duris) is touring the French countryside with his travelling
theatre company, and he's yet to be recognized as one of the continent's
great authors (or achieve significant financial success). Molière is put in
jail after skipping out on some unpaid debts, but is freed after his fine is
paid by two strangers. Molière discovers his benefactors are acting on
behalf of Jourdain (Luchini), a very wealthy man who has a beautiful wife,
Elmire (Morante) and two lovely daughters.
However, Jourdain has fallen head over heels for Celimene (Sagnier), a
gorgeous widow, and he's written a short play in order to demonstrate his
feelings for her. Jourdain needs someone to help him polish his script and
serve as an acting coach, and he's recruited Molière for the job. Needing
the money, Moliere accepts, but he poses as a man of the cloth, Monsieur
Tartuffe, to keep his identity a secret. Molière soon realizes that
Jourdain's talent exists only in the rich man's imagination, and that
Jourdain already has a rival for Celimene's affections, the charming but
duplicitous Dorante (Baer).
Molière on DVD also includes a making-of featurette Dans les Coulissess De
Moliere. A must-own visual pleasure for Francophiles, cultural and periodic
Lovers - C’est Magnifique! |