Film Reviews

Moliere

• Rating:
• Director: Laurent Triad
• Starring: Fabrice Luchini
• Details: France 120mins (PG).

"It's like a bad play!" I have to admit that my knowledge of Moliere was minimal before this movie. All I had to go on was that he was French, he was a writer and Judd Nelson said, "Moliere really pumps my nads" in The Breakfast Club. Moliere is a great introduction to the man's work and he may win over some fans. Set in 1658, farcical playwright/actor Moliere (Duris) has been granted a Parisian theatre by the King where he plans to ditch his comic background and write tragedies. However, when a young lady asks him to visit the deathbed of an old friend, it sparks off some long forgotten memories. We flashback 13 years earlier: Moliere is a struggling actor in serious debt and is thrown into jail until he pays his dues. He gets a reprieve when Monsieur Jordain (Luchini) offers to pay his debt if Moliere moves into his house and helps him rehearse a one-act play he has written for a beautiful young widow named Celimene (Ludivine Sagnier). This must be kept secret as Jordain is married to Elmire (Morante) with whom he has two daughters. Posing as a priest so that his presence wont raise suspicion, Moliere gets caught up in the internal politics of the house and falls in love with Elmire, who hates his guts. It's hard to talk about Moliere and not mention Shakespeare In Love, because that's what it is in a nutshell. It takes a while to get used to the sense of humour, as this comedy is pretty downbeat in the opening half hour (which leads to the first few gags falling flat), but once you're on board with the lies, twists, turns and surprises, it's a winner. Moliere is a bit all over the place at times, but this is part of the charm and it's actually smarter than it first lets on - Moliere struggles with the idea that 'comedies don't explore the sensitivity of the human soul' but as we're watching, the notion that this is a comedy that explores the sensitivity of the human soul won't go away. Clever, that.

Review by Gavin Burke