La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (1966) - film review

After the death of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin, a young Louis XIV decides to take steps that will ensures he holds the reins of power in France – much to the disappointment of the Church and nobles who assumed they would be left to govern the country.

Commissioned for French television, La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV is a historical drama which is much closer to the austere naturalism of Bresson that to the conventional period epic popularised by directors such as Jean Delannoy and Sacha Guitry.  With its near-documentary style cinematography, the film attempts to paint an intimate portrait of the life of the Sun King at the start of his glorious reign, beginning with the death of his mentor Mazarin and ending with the formation of the court at Versailles.

The film has none of the grandeur and scale of traditional films about the period, tending to overlook major incidents whilst dwelling excessively on the minutiae of royal life.  The intention presumably was to show the king (perhaps France’s greatest historical figure, after Napoléon and Joan of Arc) as an ordinary man, to emphasise his vulnerability and limitations.  Whilst this is commendable, you do wonder how the lethargic, cautious figure which is portrayed in this film could ever have ended up becoming the most powerful man in France, the catalyst for possibly the biggest political and cultural upheaval the country has ever known.  Nonetheless, this is a curious work, which at least partly redresses the balance when it comes to relating historical events in a realistic way, without resorting to gimmicky sensationalisation.

© James Travers 2000

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