History movie with considerable bite and edge, situated in an era a few generations before the French revolution. The least one can say is that the rot has already set in : the future king is but a minor child, raised and supervised by his great-uncle the Regent, who is a sensualist and voluptuary surrounded by a constellation of prostitutes, opportunists, golddiggers and nitwits. (Look up "decadent" in the dictionary and you will find a portrait of this man.) At the same time one of the minor nobles tries to drum up local support for an attempt at some kind of separatist revolt or seccession. None of this is particularly helpful to a France crippled by debt and overflowing with poor and disgruntled citizens.
The movie, which boasts a prize cast, contains a number of sharp, vivid, memorable scenes, quite a lot of which (as you may have guessed by now) involve debauchery, both of the merry and the tedious kind. There are also some memorable lines, although the quality of the dialogue is very uneven : witty gems alternate with nonsense so bizarre or tone-deaf that it seems to spoof itself. Sadly the movie, seen as a whole, does not impress. The various incidents and episodes may be intriguing, witty or macabre, but they do not become a harmonious whole. It all has an anecdotal, meandering quality.
Still, the movie is not to be dismissed lightly, because it can teach a number of lessons. One of these lessons concerns religion : the movie tells you exactly what to expect if faith allies itself closely with politics and power and then continues this alliance for several centuries. It pretty much kills the religion : everything related to love for God or man evaporates, until you are left with nothing else than empty formalism, weaponised sectarianism, senile tradition or self-mocking cynicism. It's a message to ponder.
The movie, which boasts a prize cast, contains a number of sharp, vivid, memorable scenes, quite a lot of which (as you may have guessed by now) involve debauchery, both of the merry and the tedious kind. There are also some memorable lines, although the quality of the dialogue is very uneven : witty gems alternate with nonsense so bizarre or tone-deaf that it seems to spoof itself. Sadly the movie, seen as a whole, does not impress. The various incidents and episodes may be intriguing, witty or macabre, but they do not become a harmonious whole. It all has an anecdotal, meandering quality.
Still, the movie is not to be dismissed lightly, because it can teach a number of lessons. One of these lessons concerns religion : the movie tells you exactly what to expect if faith allies itself closely with politics and power and then continues this alliance for several centuries. It pretty much kills the religion : everything related to love for God or man evaporates, until you are left with nothing else than empty formalism, weaponised sectarianism, senile tradition or self-mocking cynicism. It's a message to ponder.