Film review: Moliere

Moliere (by Laurent Tirard, 2007) is a film about passion: the passion to play theatre, the passion to make people laugh, the passion to love, to create.

This film tries to cover, with the instruments of the imagination, a period left undocumented in the life of the French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, named Moliere.
The director is not interested in Moliere’s biography, but in his becoming, in his apprenticeship with/ initiation in life and the discovery of his talent. This might explain the poster of the film, which presents a young man in motion in a field of poppies: it is Moliere, touring through France and life.

The director is interested in the relationship between Moliere’s personal experience and his creation, so that we won’t be taken by surprise to discover that the figures met by Moliere would later on become characters in his comedies: the widow Celimene, Tartuffe, Jourdain, of course.

Laurent Tirard created a film about youth and love, the latter being the most powerful of the muses. From this perspective, Moliere and Shakespeare in Love are related: both films are based on a love story that would trigger a literary work. Both Romain Duris and Joseph Finnes interpret an artist/ creator in his youth, when he is striving to make a name for himself, walking on wire in trying to keep his balance between a sponsored commission (Monsieur’s Jourdain’s, in this film) and his own talent. How to establish yourself by creating your way, not the others’?

Like Shakespeare in Love, Moliere has a love story at its core, disguised in a comedy: an irresistible, juicy, energetic comedy. Both young Shakespeare and Moliere turn love into a story, put it on paper& on stage, thus prolonging its life.

How is our hero like? Adventurous, histrionic, energetic, proud, charming. Both Will and Moliere seem, at first sight, to belong more to the Don Juan type rather than to that of a talented writer. Madame Jourdain in Moliere and Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love are the muses (charming and intelligent ones) of the two artists. “A comedy that speaks about the human soul? Such a thing doesn’t exist, says Moliere. If it doesn’t exist, invent it, replies Madame Jourdain.

The film is excellent both in terms of imagery and the actors’ interpretations. There is a memorable scene: after M. Jourdain’s failed trials of interpreting a horse, Moliere gives him a true acting lesson: “acting means feeling, not pretending”, says young Moliere.

Talking about the montage: the parallel filming of the two lovers (Moliere and Mme Jourdain), each practicing his/ her speech in a mirror, is a very beautiful scene that has a powerful effect on the viewer.

Situational and language humour, unexpected situations, this film is a feast in terms of intelligent scenario, with seductive, witty lines. It is difficult to talk about a film as charming as Moliere is in many respects: visually, in terms of interpretation and scenario.

The film is both first class entertainment and meditation on comedy: how to tell serious things while making people laugh. This film gives you an impulse to grab a play by Moliere and devour it.