Le Roi Danse (Film Review)
Apr. 19th, 2021 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakDirected by Gérard Corbieau, who also directed Farinelli, so you know you're into a feast for the eyes and some gorgeous music going in, as well as intense relationships between men, with the historic fidelity being, err, questionable in parts.
Le Roi Danse isn't actually centred on Louis XIV, though he is an important character, but on Jean-Baptiste Lully (born Giovanni Battista Lulli), his court composer, with the emotional hooks being his relationship with the King and his cooperations with Moliere. Lully, played by Boris Terrai, is written and presented as bi with a strong preference for men (the reason why I'm not writing "gay" is that the movie also gives him an affair with a woman when he's already married and there's absolutely need to have it for society's sake, he just wants to), and the homoerotic nature of his obsessive love for Louis isn't even the slightest bit subtext, it's main text. They start out as teenage King and just slightly older musician who bond over mutual ballet passion and rise together, with Lully literally luring Louis back from the brink of death during an illness via his music. At the same time,you see warning signs about Lully's ego and possessiveness as he first refuses to cooperate with Moliere, not wanting his music to be subordinate or even thought of the same level to words.
Still, Moliere's idea of "ballet-comedies" turns into a big success and they personally get along well, so for a time it's all splendid until the inevitable crisis and turnaround happens, in the form of several personal and political betrayals, with both Louis and Lully doing the betraying (of Moliere and each other), until the movie has caught up with the start, which was old Lully dying his "you wouldn't dare to invent this" death. (Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from surgery. He refused to have his leg amputated so he could still dance.) (In history, I think there were two months between Lully's accident with the staff and his death; in tihe movie, it happens a whole lot faster, just like Moliere's earlier death happens on stage (in history, Moliere did have a fatal attack on stage but finished the performance, ever the professional,and didn't die until a few hours later). Incidentally, this kind of sensible for the movies time encapsulating isn't what I meant with questionable history, I'll get to that in a moment. First, about the movie as taken as its own tale: Lully is the "artist as a passionate jerk" trope (with Moliere being the artist as a sensible, compassionate fellow, which is way rarer), but also the outsider rising against the odds, both because he's an Italian (though the movie leaves out that the anti-Italian mood early on mostly was due to that other Italian outsider rising against the odds to rule France, Mazarin) and because of his sexuality. (If you know about about the court of Louis XIV, and/or have watched Versailles, you might ask at this point "But what about Philippe, Louis' very gay - and very openly gay - younger brother? Short answer: he does not exist in this movie. That, and the probable reason for it, is one of the two biggest departures of history the film takes.) The movie also collects sympathy points for Lully in his devotion to Louis, which goes beyond needing a patron (though there's that early on, too) and makes for the tragedy of the film, that by the point where he's secured his standing as absolute ruler of music in France (as absolute as Louis rules the realm), and there are no more other artist rivals for Louis' favor (not least because the only playwright ever to show up in this film is Moliere - Corneille and Racine who?), the personal connection between them is gone, he can no longer evoke emotion from Louis while performing, and the King he loves has turned into his own enigmatic unreachable monument, with the ultra-conservative faction Lully and Moliere have been presented as fighting at the start of the film together with Louis now back and having consumed him whole.
Speaking of Louis, it's a compelling performance by Benoit Magimet, going from vulnerable, longing for affection but also determined to rule teenager to increasingly inhuman enigma. Incidentally, I don't know whether the actor did the ballet scenes (due to the costumes and the make up, it may have been a stunt person), but it sure looks that way when you're watching, and the scene where Louis, at age 32, realises he can no longer dance as he used to mid performance entirely relies on Magimet's face getting across what's going on with Louis at this point. And now I get to my theory as to why the film a) removes Louis' younger brother Philippe from existence, and b) completely changes his relationship with his mother, Anne of Austria (yes, same Queen Anne as The Three Musketeers). In history, Anne and her oldest son had a very affectionate relationship. In this movie, the opposite is true. The film's Anne isn't just ultra religious and conservative (which, true enough for old Anne d'Autriche), she's also a powermad schemer in league with Louis' ambitious cousin Conti, one of the nobles who fought against him in the Fronde (this, again, is the exact opposite of historical reality, where the Fronde was directed against Anne and Mazarin as regents, and she sure as hell was not in a forgiving mood once she had won), and when Louis is on his almost-deathbed (the one Lully's music lures him back to life from), this Anne pushes her son to make Conti his heir and seems to regret Louis' survival.
My guess is that the scriptwriters were aware that both Lully and Louis inevitably get increasingly less sympathetic as the story continues, so they saw the need to make the audience like and identify with them early on. A young rich and powerful man who has it all (including every mistress he wants) is hard to connect with unless you go for the tried and true "poor little rich boy" trope which comes with the "mean parent" trope. Presto, Anne is suddenly a mean mother who never ever showed her son any maternal affection, only her disapproval for his artistic loves. Also helpful: King presented as promoting the forces of progress (for now), evil conservative conspiracy against the King, allowing Lully to prove his loyalty and devotion (with the non-stop playing until Louis is better). Given that in historic reality, a dead young Louis who doesn't yet have sons would have been succeeded not by a hardcore conservative cousin but by his gay brother, the gay brother had to go so the audience would root for his survival. Moreover, the later scene where Louis signals to Lully he doesn't care with whom Lully has sex but for God's sake be discreet about it would have begged the question "but what about your "discretion? What is this word you speak of?" brother?" in a film where Philippe existed, at least on the part of the audience, if not Lully. And finally, it allows the film showing Louis as vulnerable and human, only hardening into enigmatic godkingdom later, and gives him an emotional arc that triggers Lully's own hardening and thus makes the main character's change be seen as a consequence.
However, these particular two changes - no Philippe and Mean Mother Anne - are why I couldn't see the film as taking place in our world but as fantasy in historical costumes. As such, it isn't without some (smaller) problems, either - it claims that Lully's wife falls in love with him during marriage when he really does not give her any reason to - , but it makes for a compelling story about power, art and obsession. And like I said, it is absolutely committed to the homoerotic main text, from Lully's tender putting dance shoes on teenage Louis to conducting music while adult Louis has sex and Lully adjusts to his rhythms to telling Moliere that Louis might be capricious, unpredictable and at times unfair but he, Lully, loves him, Louis is his life. For all that I'm made it sound like a very serious melodrama, there's also a lot of humor in it, even slapstick at times - for example, when Louis first tells his courtiers how he imagines future Versailles will look, his grand speech is capped by him stepping into the swampy grounds and landing in the mud. And the way the movie manages to get across that Louis dancing the sun in court masques was both art and politics and why Lully's music interweaved so perfectly with Baroque style and opulence is amazing. (The film's music was actually performed by Musica Antiqua Köln/Cologne, directed by Reinhard Göbel, and for my money they do an amazing job.) I'm not so sure the snippets of Moliere's scenes from various plays work as well, though maybe that's the German dubbing. (It is clear why the Catholic fundamentalist party is incensed about Tartuffe, though, which is the main point.) Basically, take it as a baroque m/m & m amour fou in an alternate universe full of gorgeous people and great costumes, and enjoy it on that level, and you're good.
Le Roi Danse isn't actually centred on Louis XIV, though he is an important character, but on Jean-Baptiste Lully (born Giovanni Battista Lulli), his court composer, with the emotional hooks being his relationship with the King and his cooperations with Moliere. Lully, played by Boris Terrai, is written and presented as bi with a strong preference for men (the reason why I'm not writing "gay" is that the movie also gives him an affair with a woman when he's already married and there's absolutely need to have it for society's sake, he just wants to), and the homoerotic nature of his obsessive love for Louis isn't even the slightest bit subtext, it's main text. They start out as teenage King and just slightly older musician who bond over mutual ballet passion and rise together, with Lully literally luring Louis back from the brink of death during an illness via his music. At the same time,you see warning signs about Lully's ego and possessiveness as he first refuses to cooperate with Moliere, not wanting his music to be subordinate or even thought of the same level to words.
Still, Moliere's idea of "ballet-comedies" turns into a big success and they personally get along well, so for a time it's all splendid until the inevitable crisis and turnaround happens, in the form of several personal and political betrayals, with both Louis and Lully doing the betraying (of Moliere and each other), until the movie has caught up with the start, which was old Lully dying his "you wouldn't dare to invent this" death. (Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from surgery. He refused to have his leg amputated so he could still dance.) (In history, I think there were two months between Lully's accident with the staff and his death; in tihe movie, it happens a whole lot faster, just like Moliere's earlier death happens on stage (in history, Moliere did have a fatal attack on stage but finished the performance, ever the professional,and didn't die until a few hours later). Incidentally, this kind of sensible for the movies time encapsulating isn't what I meant with questionable history, I'll get to that in a moment. First, about the movie as taken as its own tale: Lully is the "artist as a passionate jerk" trope (with Moliere being the artist as a sensible, compassionate fellow, which is way rarer), but also the outsider rising against the odds, both because he's an Italian (though the movie leaves out that the anti-Italian mood early on mostly was due to that other Italian outsider rising against the odds to rule France, Mazarin) and because of his sexuality. (If you know about about the court of Louis XIV, and/or have watched Versailles, you might ask at this point "But what about Philippe, Louis' very gay - and very openly gay - younger brother? Short answer: he does not exist in this movie. That, and the probable reason for it, is one of the two biggest departures of history the film takes.) The movie also collects sympathy points for Lully in his devotion to Louis, which goes beyond needing a patron (though there's that early on, too) and makes for the tragedy of the film, that by the point where he's secured his standing as absolute ruler of music in France (as absolute as Louis rules the realm), and there are no more other artist rivals for Louis' favor (not least because the only playwright ever to show up in this film is Moliere - Corneille and Racine who?), the personal connection between them is gone, he can no longer evoke emotion from Louis while performing, and the King he loves has turned into his own enigmatic unreachable monument, with the ultra-conservative faction Lully and Moliere have been presented as fighting at the start of the film together with Louis now back and having consumed him whole.
Speaking of Louis, it's a compelling performance by Benoit Magimet, going from vulnerable, longing for affection but also determined to rule teenager to increasingly inhuman enigma. Incidentally, I don't know whether the actor did the ballet scenes (due to the costumes and the make up, it may have been a stunt person), but it sure looks that way when you're watching, and the scene where Louis, at age 32, realises he can no longer dance as he used to mid performance entirely relies on Magimet's face getting across what's going on with Louis at this point. And now I get to my theory as to why the film a) removes Louis' younger brother Philippe from existence, and b) completely changes his relationship with his mother, Anne of Austria (yes, same Queen Anne as The Three Musketeers). In history, Anne and her oldest son had a very affectionate relationship. In this movie, the opposite is true. The film's Anne isn't just ultra religious and conservative (which, true enough for old Anne d'Autriche), she's also a powermad schemer in league with Louis' ambitious cousin Conti, one of the nobles who fought against him in the Fronde (this, again, is the exact opposite of historical reality, where the Fronde was directed against Anne and Mazarin as regents, and she sure as hell was not in a forgiving mood once she had won), and when Louis is on his almost-deathbed (the one Lully's music lures him back to life from), this Anne pushes her son to make Conti his heir and seems to regret Louis' survival.
My guess is that the scriptwriters were aware that both Lully and Louis inevitably get increasingly less sympathetic as the story continues, so they saw the need to make the audience like and identify with them early on. A young rich and powerful man who has it all (including every mistress he wants) is hard to connect with unless you go for the tried and true "poor little rich boy" trope which comes with the "mean parent" trope. Presto, Anne is suddenly a mean mother who never ever showed her son any maternal affection, only her disapproval for his artistic loves. Also helpful: King presented as promoting the forces of progress (for now), evil conservative conspiracy against the King, allowing Lully to prove his loyalty and devotion (with the non-stop playing until Louis is better). Given that in historic reality, a dead young Louis who doesn't yet have sons would have been succeeded not by a hardcore conservative cousin but by his gay brother, the gay brother had to go so the audience would root for his survival. Moreover, the later scene where Louis signals to Lully he doesn't care with whom Lully has sex but for God's sake be discreet about it would have begged the question "but what about your "discretion? What is this word you speak of?" brother?" in a film where Philippe existed, at least on the part of the audience, if not Lully. And finally, it allows the film showing Louis as vulnerable and human, only hardening into enigmatic godkingdom later, and gives him an emotional arc that triggers Lully's own hardening and thus makes the main character's change be seen as a consequence.
However, these particular two changes - no Philippe and Mean Mother Anne - are why I couldn't see the film as taking place in our world but as fantasy in historical costumes. As such, it isn't without some (smaller) problems, either - it claims that Lully's wife falls in love with him during marriage when he really does not give her any reason to - , but it makes for a compelling story about power, art and obsession. And like I said, it is absolutely committed to the homoerotic main text, from Lully's tender putting dance shoes on teenage Louis to conducting music while adult Louis has sex and Lully adjusts to his rhythms to telling Moliere that Louis might be capricious, unpredictable and at times unfair but he, Lully, loves him, Louis is his life. For all that I'm made it sound like a very serious melodrama, there's also a lot of humor in it, even slapstick at times - for example, when Louis first tells his courtiers how he imagines future Versailles will look, his grand speech is capped by him stepping into the swampy grounds and landing in the mud. And the way the movie manages to get across that Louis dancing the sun in court masques was both art and politics and why Lully's music interweaved so perfectly with Baroque style and opulence is amazing. (The film's music was actually performed by Musica Antiqua Köln/Cologne, directed by Reinhard Göbel, and for my money they do an amazing job.) I'm not so sure the snippets of Moliere's scenes from various plays work as well, though maybe that's the German dubbing. (It is clear why the Catholic fundamentalist party is incensed about Tartuffe, though, which is the main point.) Basically, take it as a baroque m/m & m amour fou in an alternate universe full of gorgeous people and great costumes, and enjoy it on that level, and you're good.
