MartinHafer
I am a retired history teacher and I love historical films. However, I just cannot recommend "The Rise of Louis XIV" because it is incredibly dull. That says a lot, as I normally have a very high capacity for anything historical. It's just that the court life of Louis XIV was generally very dull and formal and mannered. Replicating it was a feat--but not a good one! It's funny, as usually my complaints are that historicals stray too far from the facts. My complaint here is that they DON'T--and that is the problem. Simply reading about court life of Louis XIV is far more interesting and I found myself falling asleep repeatedly while viewing the film. Boring and unappealing--just like Louis himself!
unclepaulcwr
A short movie that does an excellent job in conveying the gestalt of one of the most important moments in modern (post-renaissance) French history: the events leading up to the building of Versailles. One understands The Sun King in his context: a man whose hold on his crown -- and his life -- was at first shaky at best. Louis is understood in the context of his greater 'family', in particular the unfortunate Stewarts on the other side of La Manche. Not wanting to be subject to the same fate as his uncle, Charles I (who, for those of you who don't know, was overthrown by his Parliament and nobles, and then beheaded by the fanatically Puritan Oliver Cromwell) Louis conceives of Versailles as essentially a pretty prison for the nobility: by mandating their attendance at court they cannot conspire to overthrow him. Moreover, he establishes absurd rituals of etiquette and ludicrous costumes (the male peruke (wig) was introduced at this time) in order keep them bankrupt attempting to stay on top of court fashions.
anagary
This film was made for French television in the 1960s and was to be accompanied by Pierre Goubert's Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen, a book that is still available.Rossellini, in obedience to the rules of Italian realism, looked for someone who looked like Louis XIV as he conceived him to be. He found him with mailman Patte. Unfortunately, he misunderstood his history. We know that Louis XIV was probably no taller than 5 foot 4 inches. We also know that in later life the king tended to be pudgy, but this was not true or at least not reported by our sources. In fact, from age 16 until age 31 Louis XIV was a dancer who performed in court ballets. No one describes him as being fat. Patte is a pudgy short man by our standards today. What Rossellini either did not know or chose to omit is that all Frenchmen in the seventeenth century were short by our standards. Thus, in this film we see a short fat king of seventeenth century size striding amidst twentieth-century actors. If he wanted to show Louis XIV in real size, he should have made everyone else seventeenth century size.The film does a good job at showing the atmosphere at the death of Mazarin and the king's efforts to make his court in his image. Unfortunately, the lack of budget shows when the king tries to instill some majesty. He is reduced to wearing ribbons rather than sporting jewelry and fine clothing. Also, the surroundings are rather bland, like they look today, rather than resplendent with decoration and luxury.Rossellini makes his points and the film works for educational purposes but there is no real drama. Everything moves slowly. The viewer is left wondering what is happening and why should we be watching.
Bernard Pageau
Rossellini give us a magnificent lesson of history, and how his movie's title is well choose! Remarkable is the style, and the psychology of the young Louis, as a man full of his own genius, is excellent; we understand him, we understand each action which will conduct him to the summit of the real absolutism. Never before, a french director didn't explored the french meaning of the highness and nobility, the french mentality of this ancient time where the peoples of France sincerely believed that the king was divine. There were an Italian, an Italian who was flirting a while with the communism who enjoyed us with this splendid last sequence, and this last true picture of a true king highly thinking of his charge and his destiny. Maybe the Frenchmen are too busy with the ruins of their glorious past to effectively and really understand this past.
AD
