Le Roi danse (2000) - film review

Whilst conducting a Te Deum in honour of his king, Louis XIV of France, the great musician Jean-Baptiste Lully pierces his toe with his stick.  The wound soon turns gangrenous but Lully refuses to have his leg amputated.  As he lies on his deathbed, he recalls happier times and the path that led an unknown Italian musician to become one of France’s most revered composers.  In 1653, Lully earned the favour of the adolescent king Louis by writing a ballet for him.  When he assumed the reins of power in 1661, the king repaid Lully by making him his personal composer, commissioning him to write works that will magnify his greatness.  Through his alliance with the playwright Molière, Lully would create French opera and achieve lasting fame.  But both his personal and professional life were afflicted by turbulence, self-doubt and scandal...

Anyone who appreciated Gérard Corbiau’s previous musical extravaganzas Le Maître de musique (1991) and Farinelli (1994) will enjoy his latest overblown music fest, Le Roi danse, a film that purports to tells the true story of the most important French composer of the Baroque era, Jean-Baptise Lully.  Purports is the mot juste because Corbiau is clearly far more interested in conjuring up grand mouth-watering spectacle than in pursuing historical detail.  The film is pretty, and to some extent informative, but as an accurate account of the life of Lully it falls somewhat short of the mark.

Le Roi danse is not, and cannot be judged as, a serious piece of drama.  Corbiau’s intention, presumably, is to convey something of the artificiality and splendour of court life at the time of the young Louis XIV, whilst celebrating the wondrous musical creations of Lully.  As in the previous Farinelli, the film is marred by a painfully trite screenplay and mediocre performances, but it partly makes up for this with its stunning visual presentation - its ornate sets and costumes, and some sumptuous cinematography.  Alas, beneath the surface gloss, there is next to no substance, and whilst it may awaken an interest in a great composer, the film sells its subject somewhat short.

© James Travers 2009

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