French history movies about the royalty
Kings of France, their lovers, palaces and deaths in films. Mostly bio, mostly in Franch language.
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- StarsJeanne MoreauPhilippe TorretonClaude RichBased on the novel of the same name by Maurice Druon, Les Rois maudits (The Cursed Kings) is the second television adaptation of this seven-volume book which is widely agreed to be an accurate representation of actual events. It is the early 1300's and the treasury of France, under the rule of Philippe IV (Philippe le Bel or Philippe the Beautiful), is empty. The king decides the only solution is to raid the treasures of the Knights Templar (amongst others) and concocts various charges of treason, heresy and deviance against the Knights and their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Having confessed under torture to the crimes of which he is accused, de Molay is condemned to be burned at the stake. With his dying breath he curses the king, the king's advisor (Guillaume de Nogaret), the pope (Pope Clement V) and the thirteen succeeding generations of their families. There follows one of the most dramatic periods in French history, half a century of political intrigue, murder, treason, war and famine, which ultimately culminates in the 100 Years War.
- StarsGilles BéhatHélène DucJean-Luc MoreauSet during the reigns of the last five kings of the Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War.
- DirectorAndré HunebelleStarsJean MaraisRosanna SchiaffinoRoger HaninIn the 15th century France, only one honest knight stands up on protection of a young noblewoman when she finds herself trapped in enmity between a king and a treacherous nobility.
- DirectorGérard CorbiauStarsJean RochefortMarie-Christine BarraultRufusDuring the French wars of religion, baron Malassise is dispatched by King Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Médicis to negotiate a peace treaty with representatives of Protestant cities.На русском нет.
- DirectorJean-Charles TacchellaStarsRichard BohringerIsabella RosselliniMarianne BaslerComedy set in the 16th century. Brantome is a soldier embroiled in the religious wars but more interested in women, and has many mistresses among the ladies of the royal court, although his heart belongs to just one, Victoire.After Brantôme's love stories
- DirectorDavid MillerStarsLana TurnerPedro ArmendárizRoger MooreIn the sixteenth century, a noblewoman has a love affair with the French King.Diane de Poitiers and King Francis I
- DirectorPatrice ChéreauStarsIsabelle AdjaniDaniel AuteuilJean-Hugues AngladeYoung Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.
- DirectorJo BaierStarsJulien BoisselierJoachim KrólAndreas SchmidtA wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically-entertaining adventure, albeit one with much bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late-16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots are at war. Seemingly seeking peace, French dowager Queen Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to marry him to her daughter, which would unite the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry--now married--must use all his guile to stay alive and maneuver for the throne.
- DirectorJacques MalaterreStarsArnaud BedouëtChiara De LucaMarc SaezA reenactment of the last day of king Henri IV of France before his murder by the fanatical catholic Ravaillac.
- DirectorJean-Dominique de la RochefoucauldStarsPatrick RaynalDidier SandreDominique BlancharНа русском нет.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsConrad VeidtAnnabellaRaymond MasseyCardinal Richelieu spares the life of a convicted duelist (Veidt) provided he will capture the leader of the Huguenots.About Day of the Dupes
- DirectorMarc RivièreStarsPhilippe TorretonAlessandra MartinesMarc CittiWith France's prime minister Cardinal Richelieu and King Louis XIII dead, the Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin and the Spanish-born Queen Anne struggle to establish a regency to rule France in the name of the five-year-old Louis XIV.Anne d'Autriche and Mazarin
- DirectorRoger PlanchonStarsCarmen MauraMaxime MansionPaolo GraziosiThe title of this major French costume drama means "Louis, child-king", and indeed it's a fascinating fresco about the formative years of the young king Louis XIV, before he became the Sun-king at Versailles. It was a dark and violent period, when the Louvre (meaning 'wolves hunt castle', hunting was a major aristocratic pastime), then still the somewhat gloomy royal palace, was the battle field of palace intrigues while the regency was held by queen-mother Anne of Austria but the actual head of the royal government was the aging cardinal Giulio Mazirini ('Mazarin'), the less-known Italian successor of Richelieu, who also introduced to the court and the kingdom a host of his countrymen from whom Louis would learn the passion for Italian culture, especially music which would flourish under the direction of Lully (but that later story is another movie, "Le Roi danse"). The elaborate script sketches the story of French power politics, too complicate and devious to summarize in any detail, but mainly from the viewpoint of the immature king under maternal guardianship, who probably didn't comprehend half of the grave troubles focusing on the strife between the official Catholic church and those claiming freedom of religion, especially for the Huguenots, but in reality mainly driven by personal and family ambitions and the grip of nobles on the kingdom at the expense of the royal power, and climaxing in a full rebellion, known as the Fronde, which forces the royal family to flee for their lives, an experience that may have decided Louis to dedicate his reign to preventing a repeat by establishing absolutism as he did. Some narration is done by Louis's younger brother Philip, the duke of Anjou, who seems smarter but as the spare heir is condemned to life in a golden cage, overshadowed by Louis while any 'disrespect' for his crowned sibling is punishable on the spot by strap lashes administered on his bare behind by a servant.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsJean-Marie PatteRaymond JourdanCésar SilvagniAfter the death of Cardinal Mazarin, young king Louis XIV decides to assert his power to control the aristocracy.
- StarsLorànt DeutschThierry FrémontSara GiraudeauAfter the sumptuous fête which infuriated the king, Fouquet was arrested. After a travesty of a trial, he spent the rest of his life in a fortress.
- DirectorThierry BinistiStarsVinciane MillereauSamuel TheisJérôme PoulyDocudrama about the life of Louis XIV nicknamed "the Sun King", the King of France who ran a glamorous court, expanded the borders of France, loved women and parties and built an incredible palace for himself - the Versailles.Thierry Binisti's movie, set in Versailles - about Louis XIV
- DirectorSacha GuitryStarsMichel AuclairJean-Pierre AumontJean-Louis BarraultThe history of the palace of Versailles from its founding to the present.
- DirectorMichel BoisrondStarsJean-Paul BelmondoPhilippe NoiretDany RobinAnthology of four love stories that have some historical basis.
- DirectorFrançois ChatelStarsLise DelamareClaude JadeJacqueline MilleНа русском нет
- DirectorGérard CorbiauStarsBenoît MagimelBoris TerralTchéky KaryoCorbiau repeats the Farinelli formula, artistic rivalry and social private drama expressed in dazzling, sometimes excessively lavish baroque scenery, music and costume, but this time in its ultimate setting: Versailles. There are two protagonists - first the title character, Louis XIV, the French sun-king who has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer (like Nero wrote and performed musical poetry), and starts asserting himself against the entourage of his Medici mother, the regent during his minority, by building his palace complex and launching a 'fitting' new, mainly musical display of baroque show. Secondly the musical genius Gianbattista Lulli ('Jean-Baptiste') Lully, a Florentine upstart of unbridled ambition, quickly gains the king's absolute trust, despite the nationalist and aristocratic opposition to a low-born Italian, and thus turns the normally socially humble post of court composer into a 'ministerial portfolio of culture' of Cabinet rank, complete with a monopoly which kills of his artistic rivals in operatic theater. The script also weaves a complex web of court scheming for individual power and social interests, and even a sadistic but accidental murder on a young valet, producing a sensuous and sumptuous drama too complex for this format, ending in a freakish but fatal accident. Louis XIV's mother was Ana de Austria (in French, Anne d' Autriche), the daughter of one of the Hapsburgh Kings of Spain. Maria di Medici (in French, Marie de Médicis) was his grandmother, his father's mother. She was dead before Louis XIV reached the throne. Please correct the reference to "his Medici mother"
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsGérard DepardieuUma ThurmanTim RothVatel is the cook of Prince Condé. When the prince invites Louis XIV to hunt, he has to give lavish banquets in order to fall in his favor. But when Vatel falls in love with the king's mistress, love and duty come into conflict.