Ridicule (film)
Ridicule | |
---|---|
Directed by | Patrice Leconte |
Screenplay by | Rémi Waterhouse Michel Fessler Eric Vicaut |
Produced by | Frédéric Brillion Philippe Carcassonne Gilles Legrand Ranvijay Patwardhan |
Starring | Charles Berling Jean Rochefort Fanny Ardant Judith Godrèche |
Cinematography | Thierry Arbogast |
Music by | Antoine Duhamel |
Distributed by | PolyGram Film Distribution[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Budget | $7.7 million [2] |
Box office | $20 million[citation needed] |
Ridicule (French pronunciation: [ʁidikyl]) is a 1996 French period drama film directed by Patrice Leconte and starring Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort, Fanny Ardant and Judith Godrèche. Set in the 18th century at the decadent court of Versailles, where social status can rise and fall based on one's ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself, the film's plot examines the social injustices of late 18th-century France, in showing the corruption and callousness of the aristocrats. Ridicule was selected as France's submission and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards. Ridicule also received four Cesar awards at the 22nd Cesar Awards Ceremony in Paris.
Plot
[edit]In 18th-century France, Baron Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy, a young, penniless, and naive aristocrat and engineer, devises a scheme to drain the marshy region of the Dombes that was causing disease so that he could improve the lot of the peasants living there. He sets off for Versailles in order to seek the support of King Louis XVI. Along the way, he is robbed and beaten, but he is taken in by the Marquis de Bellegarde, a physician, who teaches him about wit and the court's ways. Ponceludon realizes that the court is corrupt and hollow but finds solace in Mathilde de Bellegarde, the doctor's daughter, who agrees to marry a rich old man to support her science experiments and pay off her father's debts.
Madame de Blayac, the beautiful and wealthy recent widow of Monsieur de Blayac, who was supposed to be Ponceludon's sponsor at court, cheats at a game of wits with the help of her lover, L'abbé de Vilecourt. Ponceludon notices but does not expose the cheating to the court and ruin Madame de Blayac's reputation. Blayac repays his generosity by arranging for the certification of his lineage, allowing his suit to proceed. Meanwhile, Ponceludon sees through the schemes of the court and realizes that he cannot trust anyone.
Ponceludon sleeps with Madame de Blayac in exchange for her assistance in arranging a meeting with the King, but she maliciously has Bellegarde attend her when Ponceludon is still with her, ensuring that Mathilde learns of their relationship. Later, Ponceludon joins the King's entourage and secures a private meeting with the King to discuss his project, but he is forced into a duel with a cannoneer who insults him.
Ponceludon kills the cannoneer and learns that the King cannot meet with someone who has killed one of his officers, although he is assured that it was right to uphold his honor. Madame de Blayac plots her revenge by inviting Ponceludon to a costume ball "only for wits," where he is tripped and ridiculed. However, he tears off his mask and condemns their decadence, vowing to drain the swamp by himself, and leaves the court with Mathilde.
Some years later, in 1794, after the Revolution has forced many nobles to be exiled, the Marquis de Bellegarde, a refugee in Great Britain, spends some time in a nostalgic conversation. We learn from him that Ponceludon, always faithful, has been able to work on completing his goal of draining the Dombes alongside Mathilde, who is now his wife.
Production Team
[edit]- Title : Ridicule
- Hook: « He spares no one… »
- Director : Patrice Leconte
- Screenplay Writers : Rémi Waterhouse, Michel Fessler, and Éric Vicaut
- Composer : Antoine Duhamel
- Cinematographer : Thierry Arbogast
- Set Director : Ivan Maussion
- Costume Director : Christian Gasc
- Editor : Joëlle Hache
- Son : Dominique Hennequin
- Production : Gilles Legrand, Philippe Carcassonne, and Frédéric Brillion
- Production Companies : Cinéa, Épithète Films, and France 3 Cinéma, with the participation of StudioCanal, Polygram Audiovisuel, Sofica Investimage 4 and CNC
- Country of Production : France
- Original Language : French
- Film Format : 35 mm - Color
- Genre : Dramatic Comedy, Period Piece
- Running Time : 102 minutes
- Release Date : 9 May 1996
Cast
[edit]- Charles Berling as Le Baron Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy
- Jean Rochefort as Le Marquis de Bellegarde
- Fanny Ardant as Madame de Blayac
- Judith Godrèche as Mathilde de Bellegarde
- Bernard Giraudeau as L'abbé de Vilecourt
- Bernard Dhéran as Monsieur de Montaliéri
- Albert Delpy as Le Baron de Guéret
- Carlo Brandt as Le Chevalier de Milletail
- Jacques Mathou as Abbé de l'Epée
- Jacques Roman as Chevernoy
- Urbain Cancelier as Louis XVI
- Albert Delpy as Baron de Guéret
- Bruno Zanardi as Paul, son of Charlotte
- Marie Pillet as Charlotte, the governess
- Mirabelle Kirkland as Marie-Antoinette
Filming
[edit]The scenes on the outside of the residence of the Marquis de Bellegarde were shot at the Villiers-le-Bâcle château, property of the comedian Yves Lecoq. Places of Filming :
- Château de Neuville (Yvelines)
- Château de Champs-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne)
- Gardens of the Château de Versailles (Yvelines)
Reception
[edit]Critical response
[edit]Ridicule has an approval rating of 80% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 7.3/10.[3] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[4]
Box office
[edit]The film grossed around $10 million in France.[5] Miramax acquired US distribution rights and released 50 subtitled copies of the film which grossed almost $2 million.[6]
Awards
[edit]Won
[edit]- Cesar 1997
- Lumières 1997
- Best Film
- Best Actress – Fanny Ardant
- Best Actor – Charles Berling
- BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language
- David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film
- London Film Critics Circle Awards 1997 (en): Best Film not in the English Language
Nominations
[edit]- César Award for Best Actor – Charles Berling
- César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Bernard Giraudeau, Jean Rochefort
- César Award for Best Original Screenplay – Remi Waterhouse
- César Award for Best Music – Antoine Duhamel
- César Award for Best Cinematography – Thierry Arbogast
- César Award for Best Sound – Dominique Hennequin, Jean Goudier
- César Award for Best Editing – Joëlle Hache
- Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film[7]
- Cannes Film Festival – Palme d'Or[8]
- Oscars 1997: Best Foreign Film
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1996: Best Film not in the English Language
- Satellite Awards 1997: Best Film not in the English Language
- Golden Globes 1997: Best Film not in the English Language
Historical Context
[edit]Ridicule demonstrates life at the heart of the 18th century, where the only way to have an audience with the king was by using wit, or using intelligence and beautiful language. Rivalry is always present in the court, the nobles humiliate eachother in the hope of lifting their status in front of the king. One of the characters in the film even goes so far as to kill himself because he believes he has been ridiculed out of a meeting with the king. The king appears to be like a god, inaccessible and ruthless, selfish and capable of driving men to death, without even realizing it. The heros of Ridicule, the Baron de Malavoy, although a stranger to this atmosphere, is obligated to enter there to be able to address the king, so that he can obtain the funds neccessary to dry the marshes of the Dombes. He discovers very quickly that he has a gift for wit, but will not succeed however in obtaining a true conversation with the king.
Historically speaking, the film is intended to be close to the descriptions historians have of the Court under the Ancien Régime, although it evokes moreso the ways of the Court of Louis XIV than those of Louis XVI: the Count of Bussy-Rabutin[9] describes in his memoirs the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, the inaccessible aspect of the sovereign, and the extreme difficulty he has in getting messages to the king, even though he comes from one of the oldest and most influential families in the kingdom.
The Duke of Saint-Simon, for his part, recounts in his memoirs his embassy to Spain for the engagement of Louis XV and the Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain in 1720[10], and appreciates the weekly sessions where the King of Spain receives any applicant, unlike what happens in France. We can also cite the testimony of Norbert Elias who describes the phenomenon of the Court in which Louis XV, but especially Louis XVI (who sought to escape this environment by taking refuge on the roofs or by practicing manual trades), allowed themselves to be locked up.[11] The king became almost inaccessible, unlike Henry IV (1589-1610), who traveled all over France and slept in modest inns. At court, verbal witticisms circulated regularly and were learned and used (Rothschild Sotheby's sale in May 2006, the personal copy of the Marquis de Marigny - brother of the Marquise de Pompadour).
However, if the costumes seem consistent with the descriptions of the time, see for example the festive book entitled "The Marriage of the Dauphin" - son of Louis XV -, the film takes some liberties, in particular for the scene of the Autumn Ball and depicts Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette in particular rather grotesquely.
See also
[edit]- List of submissions to the 69th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing
References
[edit]- ^ "Ridicule (1996)". UniFrance. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ JP. "Ridicule (1996)- JPBox-Office". www.jpbox-office.com.
- ^ "Ridicule". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Ridicule". Metacritic.
- ^ Wiliam, Michael (November 8, 1996). "'Ridicule' joins Oscar race". Daily Variety. p. 29.
- ^ "Ridicule". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "The 69th Academy Awards (1997) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Ridicule". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
- ^ Bussy, Roger de Rabutin (1857). Mémoires de Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Paris : Charpentier.
- ^ Bussy, Roger de Rabutin; Lalanne, Ludovic (1972). Mémoires de Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy. Oxford University. Farnborough, Gregg.
- ^ Bussy, Roger de Rabutin; Lalanne, Ludovic (1972). Mémoires de Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy. Oxford University. Farnborough, Gregg.
External links
[edit]- 1996 films
- 1990s French-language films
- 1996 drama films
- Films directed by Patrice Leconte
- French Revolution films
- Films set in the 1780s
- Films set in 1794
- Films set in France
- Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award winners
- Best Film César Award winners
- Best Film Lumières Award winners
- Films whose director won the Best Director César Award
- Films featuring a Best Actress Lumières Award–winning performance
- Films featuring a Best Actor Lumières Award–winning performance
- Cultural depictions of Louis XVI
- 1990s historical drama films
- French historical drama films
- 1990s French films
- Films produced by Philippe Carcassonne
- Films scored by Antoine Duhamel
- Films shot at the Palace of Versailles