Jean Baptiste Molière Movies

Actor Jacques Weber made his directorial debut with this film adaptation of Don Juan written in 1665 by Moliere (1622-1673). In early 17th-century Spain, two women (Penelope Cruz, Ariadne Gil) believe Don Juan (Weber) when he promises marriage to both, but they soon are left to ponder his whereabouts. However, the brothers of Elvire (Emmanuelle Beart), also abandoned by Don Juan, are out for revenge. Musical interludes (a cappella chorales, guitar) are by Bruno Coulais. After Moliere faced clerical opposition to Tartuffe (1664), it was banned, and he then wrote Don Juan, also subjected to continual attacks. For more on Moliere and Don Juan, go to the summary of Frederick Wiseman's La Comedie Francaise ou L'amour Joue (1996). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Mixing real locations with a Louis XIV stage setting, director Michel Mitrani interprets the story first told in Moliere's play of the same name, written for the stage. A slightly supercilious country gentleman, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (Michel Galabru) has arrived in Paris to marry Julie (Fanny Cottencon) the woman promised him, but he does not know that Julie is in love with a handsome young man and has no interest in marrying the grand Monsieur, at all. She and her lover ask the cunningly clever Sbrigani (Roger Coggio) for help, and he concocts a wild array of characters with claims on the easily gulled Pourceaugnac's attention, including arrogant doctors and women with supposed liens on his matrimonial intentions -- actually no more valid than the ostensible creditors out to collect imaginary debts from the unwary gentlemen. The dialogue and situations are as funny as when Moliere first wrote them, but Mitrani's version may be a bit long and slow for some tastes. Some viewers may want to compare this cinematic interpretation with the 1932 version of the same play. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Molière's play about a "bourgeois gentleman" was the basis for this cinematic interpretation of the same story, which illustrates the differences between theater performances and the silver screen. The play has interludes of music, it is performed as a ballet, and stage sets tend to remain right where they are for the duration of a long scene or an act, or more. In contrast, this film is not a ballet, though music is interwoven with the scenes, the action is emphasized more than on a static stage set, and the "gentleman" of the title, Monsieur Jourdain, is played by Michel Galabru with facial expressions necessary for the stage, though a bit much for the close-up shots of a camera. Monsieur Jourdain is a wealthy man who wants to rise up the social ladder but only succeeds in giving away his lack of sensibility at every turn, and soon he has some of the impoverished nobility wanting to use his lucre as a springboard back into the good life. He is easily fooled, as when the marriage of his daughter is arranged behind his back -- if only he would listen to his wife (Rosy Varte), who has so much more common sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Haragon Louis De Funes is such a miserable miser that he even steals oats from horses in this comedy from celebrated playwright Moliere. The story remains true to the original, but the combined effort between Girault and De Funes remains uneven. Still, the film will satisfy the fans of De Funes, one of France's more beloved screen comics. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Jean Baptiste Pouquelin Molière (1622-73) was perhaps the greatest playwright of French history. His comedies have been performed, adapted and re-adapted continually from his day to ours not only in France, but around the world. It is certain that he lived and breathed for the theater: the company he toured with became first, the King's Troupe (for the "Sun King," Louis XIV), and later became what was even then the most prestigious theater company of France, the Comédie Française. The Comédie Française remains a national institution of unimaginable importance. Thanks to Molière's devastating wit, the king's patronage and protection was more than a formality: he offended many important people personally and in his comedies. This lavish biographical film chronicles his childhood experiences as a merchant's son, going by the name of Pouquelin, up to the time he ran away to join the Béjart company of travelling players, and then follows his later years as a respected client of the king. Viewers will find their appreciation for this film enriched by prior knowledge of Molière, his plays, and his times. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based upon the classic Moliere farce and performed by the legendary Comedie Francaise, The Would Be Gentleman opens in a contemporary setting as audience members enter a theatre and take their seats. The curtain rises, and we the play begins. We soon meet Jourdain (Louis Seigner), a man of recent wealth but no breeding. Jourdain is obsessed with "quality" and "respectability," but is a total fool, and his efforts at bettering himself are met with derision -- but only behind his back. Jourdain also has set his sights on a lovely widowed Marquise, whom he hopes to impress by commissioning serenades, ballets, etc., and for whom he has bought an expensive ring. He has enlisted the aid of an impecunious Count to deliver his messages of love, but the Count is after the Marquise himself and tells her that the gifts he brings are his own. Jourdain also must deal with his wife, who finds his airs ridiculous, and his daughter Lucille, who wishes to marry Cleonte, a young, honorable man who is perfect in all respects save one -- he is not of noble blood. Fortunately, Cleonte's servant devises a scheme to fool Jourdain into thinking Cleonte is to the manor born, and the film ends with all the lovers matched with their appropriate partners. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

How typical of the great German director F. W. Murnau that he used Moliere's scathing satirical comedy Tartuffe as a launching pad for an extended exercise in expressionism. Emil Jannings plays the title character, a religious hypocrite who capitalizes upon the piety of others to line his own pockets. Lusting after Elmire (Lil Dagover), the daughter of gullible millionaire Orgon (Werner Krauss), Tartuffe all but convinces Orgon to hand over Elmire -- and all his land holdings -- on a silver platter in exchange for Divine absolution. On the verge of triumphantly taking over Orgon's mansion and tossing the old man out, Tartuffe is foiled by the deux ex machina arrival of an emissary of the King, who arrests the "hero" for his chicanery (this final scene was imposed upon Moliere by the French censors; originally, Tartuffe got away with his crimes). In his efforts to make the property more cinematic, Murnau adds a framing story concerning an old woman who tries to cheat an old man out of a fortune while the two of them watch a theatrical performance of the Moliere play. Chock full of offbeat camera angles, forced-perspective sets, and spiderlike shadows, Tartuff owes more to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari than it does to Moliere. Emil Jannings went on to collaborate with Murnau in the director's next production, a lavish adaptation of Goethe's Faust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide