KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
A sophisticated and literate biographical speculation is the basis of this witty and entertaining portrait of the titular artist. Refreshingly, and impressively, it requires no prior knowledge of Moliere, generally regarded as France's Shakespeare. Even more than Shakespeare in Love, to which it is quite properly compared, it keeps the uninitiated in the loop.
The film springs from an unexplained and undocumented period in 1644 in the life of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, alias Moliere (Duris) which, it decides, he spent in debtors' prison.
The leader of a touring troupe of farceurs, he is arrested on stage and even his Chaplinesque shtick, incorporating the hapless bailiffs into his routine, is not enough to save him from the slammer.
Wealthy and lugubrious aristocrat M. Jourdain (Luchini, in a perfectly judged mixture of pathetic and pompous) bails the hero out and sets him up in his country estate: he wants to seduce the gorgeous widow Celimene (Sagnier) by presenting her with a one-act play - which Moliere is to ghost-write.
This is, of course, only the first layer of deceit: Jourdain has a wife (the lustrous Morante) who is not likely to be amused by her husband's wandering eye; he also has a pal (the marvellously popinjay Baer) who, while purporting to advance Jourdain's romantic interests, is running a game of his own. The film's conceit is that, in enforced internment, Moliere found the raw material of the plays that would make his name; its trick is that the plays inform the film, making for extended and multilayered jokes in which Moliere is both participant and a gleeful orchestrator.
It's a vigorous, exuberant romp, sustained by Duris' wonderful performance and containing what must be the sexiest scene in the history of cinema involving two people in different rooms. And it reminds us that farce is a noble theatrical tradition far closer to tragedy than we often realise.
Cast: Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Edouard Baer, Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Valette
Director: Laurent Tirard
Running time: 120 mins
Rating: PG (adult themes)
Screening: Bridgeway, Rialto
Verdict: France's answer to Shakespeare in Love; a vigorous romp full of wit and pleasure.
