Sketchy ‘Moliere’ tiresome at best
Published 3:19 pm Thursday, August 9, 2007
The spawn of “Shakespeare in Love” just keep proliferating – witness the recent appearance of “Becoming Jane,” a speculative look at the love life of Jane Austen.
From France, here’s the equally sketchy “Moliere,” a fictional comedy about the youth of the great playwright. Set in 1645, the movie places the future Moliere (played by Romain Duris) in a dicey situation, from which at least a few of his later plays were supposedly drawn.
Moliere is rescued from debtor’s prison by a wealthy idiot named Jourdain (the expert Fabrice Luchini), who wants the young actor to tutor him in the theatrical arts. Seems Jourdain has written a play to impress a pretty widow (Ludivine Sangier, from “Swimming Pool”), and needs coaching.
Jourdain’s wife (Laura Morante) is unaware of this, but she enjoys the attention of the witty young actor. The stage is set, as it were, for farce.
I liked “Shakespeare in Love” just fine, but enough already. And besides, the notion that writers need to have lived through romantic adventures to be able to write about them is a dumb one. Wasn’t Jane Austen an even greater genius if she hadn’t directly experienced all those exquisitely observed events in her novels?
“Moliere” director Laurent Tirard works a scenic, fitfully amusing variation on all this. The movie has a bright supporting cast and a glossy approach.
It also has one of the most charismatic young stars of French cinema, Romain Duris, in the lead role. Duris was sensational in “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” a terrific French film from a couple of years ago, and he was also in the popular “Russian Dolls.”
He’s got some good scenes in this one, especially when he’s overacting. But you can see how a comic actor might have nailed it better. Plus, Duris looks terrible in a long wig.
The plot has various moments from Moliere’s plays embedded in it, the better to suggest that the playwright used his life for his art. If you are a Moliere fan, this might enhance the movie, but I doubt it would make it any better. This is fluff.
