Charles Berling plays an impoverished aristocrat come to pre-Revolution Versailles to plead the case for the draining of the mosquito-infested swamp his estate sits on and improving the life of the local peasantry (a man, anachronistically we suspect, with his heart in the right place). He soon learns that at the court Wit rules — the only way to advance is to get noticed through the exercise of witty repartee, which fortunately our hero excels in. This is all entertaining enough (the great Jean Rochefort has a fine supporting role) but for a film in which razor-sharp wit is at the centre Ridicule is surprisingly soft and sentimental. And the camera’s (director Leconte’s?) fascination with the plunging neckline of the buxom Judith Godreche is in its own way as degrading as the callous Court the film pretends to excoriate.
by Ian Johnston | Source: DVD
27 May 2008 12:20 PM | Submit Comment