The Rise of Louis XIV (TV 1966)
"La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV" (original title)

1661: Cardinal Mazarin dies. In the power vacuum, the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Surintendant... See full summary »

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Philippe Erlanger (scenario), Jean Gruault (adaptation),

Stars:

Jean-Marie Patte, Raymond Jourdan, Silvagni

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Marie Patte	...	King Louis XIV
Raymond Jourdan	...	Jean Baptiste Colbert
Silvagni	...	Cardinal Mazarin
Katharina Renn	...	Anne d'Autriche
Dominique Vincent	...	Madame Du Plessis
Pierre Barrat	...	Nicolas Fouquet
Fernand Fabre	...	Michel Le Tellier
Françoise Ponty	...	Louise de la Vallière
Joëlle Laugeois	...	Marie-Thérèse
Maurice Barrier	...	D'Artagnan
André Dumas	...	Le Père Joly
François Mirante	...	M. de Brienne
Pierre Spadoni	...	Noni
Roger Guillo	...	L'apothicaire
Louis Raymond	...	Le premier médecin

Storyline

1661: Cardinal Mazarin dies. In the power vacuum, the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Surintendant who's been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power; he overplays his hand, offering a bribe to Louis's mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed. Years later, in a coda, we see Louis exercising the power of the sun.

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Plot Keywords:

art | reading | eating | absolutism | versailles | 

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Genres:

Biography | History

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French Latin

Release Date:

8 October 1966 (France)

Also Known As:

The Taking of Power by Louis XIV

Company Credits

Production Co:

Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean-Marie Patte, an office clerk moonlighting as an amateur actor, had terrible difficulty memorizing his lines, and had to read from cue cards in most of his scenes. Roberto Rossellini believed that Patte's awkward, unrehearsed nervousness mirrored that of Louis as he takes on the responsibilities of kingship.

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Connections

Referenced in My Voyage to Italy (1999)

User Reviews

Window to an Era

Apply cinema verité to an historical setting and You Are There. Rossellini succeeds in slowing the pace, but rather than making it feel slow, he makes it feel majestic, as it should be in a story about a king. Likewise, he makes the dialog conversational à la Hawks. The locations are authentic, as are the costumes and customs, thus completing the illusion.

In Olivier's Henry V, we see how a one becomes a feudal king; in The Rise of Louis XIV, we see how one becomes a Sun King.