Moliere
Short description
Molière is a French comedy-drama about the playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, in his younger years. Burdened by debts and hounded by creditors, he is imprisoned, then offered a way out by a wealthy man, Monsieur Jourdain, who settles what he owes in exchange for acting lessons. Jourdain hopes to win the affection of a widowed marquise, and the two men work toward that aim while Molière is presented to the household under another name. The arrangement draws the struggling actor into a tangle of scheming and desire. The film was directed by Laurent Tirard, his first feature, and he wrote the screenplay with Grégoire Vigneron. Romain Duris plays Molière, with Fabrice Luchini as Jourdain, Édouard Baer, Ludivine Sagnier, Laura Morante and Fanny Valette in supporting roles.
Made in France on a budget of about 16 million dollars, the film took roughly 11 million dollars worldwide, less than it cost. Audiences have been more receptive than critics: it holds a 7.1 rating on IMDb from around 6,800 votes and a 6.4 on TMDB from about 200 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 6.4 from 88 reviews.
Tirard went on to direct Little Nicholas, Asterix & Obelix: God Save Britannia, Up for Love, Return of the Hero, The Speech and Oh My Goodness!
What's left behind the scenes
- In an interview, Tirard also refers to Ariane Mnouchkine’s classic film “Molière” (1978), a gigantic, over four-hour biographical canvas.
- The director says that the choice of Romaine Duris for the lead role seems successful to him, even though Duris has never performed in theater and has never been involved with classical theater at all.
- Tirar openly admitted in interviews that John Madden's "Shakespeare in Love" (1995) served as a model for him.
- According to Tirard’s vision, the characters in the film surrounding Molière come from his plays. Thus, Célimène is a character from “The Misanthrope,” Monsieur Jourdain is a character from “Tartuffe,” and so on.
- Specifically for the film's shooting, the museum provided the filmmakers with an ancient harp. This harp was made in 1760, long after Molière's time.
- According to Tirar, the idea for the film came to him after he decided to reread Molière's "The Misanthrope."
- While writing the screenplay, Tirard and his co-author Grégoire Vigneron reread numerous biographies and works of fiction dedicated to Molière. They were particularly impressed by Mikhail Bulgakov’s play “The Cabal of Holy Fools.”
- Actor Fabrice Luchini did not immediately agree to the role of Monsieur Jourdain. He thought for a long time whether to take on such a character, and also doubted whether the director, who had only recently debuted in film, would be able to make a film about Molière.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
