Échec au roy (1945) Online

The action takes place in 1712,when the Sun King had only three more years to live .There's a problem with the actor who portrays Louis The Fourteenth (Maurice Escande,50) was much too young : the old monarch was 74 and at the time people looked much older than today.On the other hand ,Gabrielle Dorziat (65) was well cast as Madame de Maintenon,ironically nicknamed "Madame de Maintenant" (Maintenant =Now). In his " Si Versailles M'Etait Conté " Sacha Guitry would depict the last years of the couple.

It's really too bad that the director had not focused his screenplay on the king and his secret wife;the best scenes are those which take place in a crepuscular Versailles (many scenes are filmed at dawn or in the night)and in Saint-Cyr where the old lady was educating the noble girls short of the readies :they used to play Racine's works ,and ,as they showed too much passion - although they obviously played the male parts too- and the playwright was asked to compose "sacred dramas": that's why we can see the young pupils play "Esther" on stage.

As for the plot,it's light-hearted gallantries,with poetic cinematography and occasionally lines which are truly excellent.George Marchal was the ideal marquis but his role is too underwritten to give him any chance to shine.Odette Joyeux was one of the romantic female leads of the era.

The final years of the Sun King were not glorious and when the movie was released (actually 1943:imdb information is inaccurate),France's situation was tragic.Hence the necessity to conclude the movie with a victory and this last conversation between Louis and Maintenon ,thinking of all those young men who sacrificed their life for their king and country