Ridicule
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Movie Reviews of Ridicule
Movie Review: He Who Laughs Last
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got done watching a delightful movie by the name of "Ridicule". By categorization, this would come under the category of a "costume drama/comedy" and it's pre-revolution setting was a key element to the movie's impact. However, the fancy sets and costumes were not just an excuse to make a movie; the counts and countess's served to display a world of benign ignorance of the world around them (as only the 16th Century French nobility could).
The movie follows a well-meaning lesser noble who seeks to remedy the unhealthy conditions in his estate. To do so, he must speak to the proper component in the king's government. Getting through to the right person becomes a game for those on the inside and a farce to those on the outside. It makes our own bureaucracy seem quite efficient in comparison. Our hero does his best to cultivate the right persons for his quest to drain the swamp back home. Along the way he meets up with a variety of characters that make for a nice mix of scoundrels and true nobility. The ending is understated but the message is clear.
As this movie began, I was wondering what I was getting into. A quick and odd twist had me wondering the same thing from a different point of view. However, it did not take me long to buy into the premise and delivery of "Ridicule". I may have over-rated it just a bit because it's brilliance caught me off guard. What a pleasant surprise this one was!
Movie Review: A TRUE ORIGINAL--A FILM ABOUT LANGUAGE , STYLE AND WIT
Summary: 5 Stars
RIDICULE is an orignal and "one-of-a-kind" film whose subject matter is the elaborate and brilliant use of language. Oh, yes, it's also about the intrigues and nastiness of the royal court in the early days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and it's also one of the most accurate and believable re-creations of what life must have been like then. It captures attitudes about ideas and snobbery, about skill and competition that is in another ballpark from Sophia Coppola's re-creation of the time. The characters in her film would stand tonge-tied in front of any characters in this film and be held up to ridicule. One of the most dazzling scenes in the film is a contest in which dinner guests must create rhymed couplets on a subject given them--in meter and context--where they get to be clever, brilliant and contemplative. At a recent showing to American high school students, the reaction was one of astonishment--it opened a world of expression the kids could not have imagined ever existed.
Many were surprisingly enthusiastic! The film is witty, creul and unrelenting--high entertainment for anyone who wants escape from a world of mutants and exploding cars into a world of wit,elegance and grace, with a lesson in the real ways of the world thrown in!
Movie Review: Ohhh La La ... Those decadent French
Summary: 5 Stars
Off to the court of King Louis XVI in the late 1700's went our young hero to appeal for funds required to drain the swamp near his old country bumpkin estate. Problem is that in the decadent court of the King, real life is what we would call 'The Twilight Zone' today with most of the court having practiced hedonism so long they don't even remember what it is like to be normal ...
Just like Washington tody? .... HHMMMM
Anyway, to get close to the King it is critical that you are a master of wit .... yup thats right ... wit ....not the lowly pun, and definitely not humour ... OH shock ..... For those members of the court, or prtetnders that were'nt shart enough to be whitty, they were ridiculed or shunned. Fortunately for our hero, he is smart enough to show those court slickers a thing or two ...
The movie is well acted, light hearted and great fun ... but if you movie fare is for more simpler action tatstes like Kill Bill Vol 1, or if you are under the age of 30 ... maybe better you pass this one up .. I however loved this DVD ...
Movie Review: Beautiful Costume Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in the court of King Louis XVI, a young country baron, Ponceludon, travels to Versailles seeking the support of the king to rid his lands of the festering marshes that plague them. What Ponceludon soon learns is that access to the king is granted either through political connections or through wit - the ability to impress the court with cutting verbal prowess. He eventually beds the influential and politically powerful Madame de Blayac to gain access to the court. But to survive there Ponceludon must match his wits with the more ambitious and nefarious nobles who plot against him. Wit, he finds, is not so much about humor as it is about power, cruelty and inflicting insults. In the era of King Louis XVI wit is more valued than intellect.
"Ridicule" is a 5-star delight to watch. Wonderfully told, superbly acted and beautifully filmed. This is one film that stimulates the intellect while pleasing the eye.
Movie Review: Ridiculously Good!
Summary: 5 Stars
Certainly one of the best French films, Ridicule ranks alongside other cinematic greats. In an attempt to have the pestiferous swamp drained that is killing his town, an idealistic young doctor makes his way to the court of Louis XVI. At court he finds that wit is the way to fame and an audience. But there are rules; never laugh at your own jokes, don't pun, and the best wit of all is ridicule at the expense of another (who is also vying for the king's attention.) Entangled in the lures of two beautiful women, many witty barbs are traded as the young doctor maneuvers to be seen, heard, and bankrolled in order to acheive his aims.