Ridicule

1996 "Wit is the ultimate weapon."
7.3| 1h42m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 22 November 1996 Released
Producted By: Epithète Films
Country: France
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

Watch Online

Ridicule (1996) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Patrice Leconte

Production Companies

Epithète Films

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Ridicule Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Ridicule Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Alicia I love this movie so much
AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
filmalamosa Court of Louis XVI 6 years prior to the Bastille. A country Baron Gregoire Ponceludon de Malavoy wants to drain swamps on his land and needs help from the government he is turned down and appeals to the King. What trying to do that was like is the gist of the film.Wonderful portrayal of the decadent lives lived by courtesans at that time. Wit (Esprit) was an admired quality often leading to-- Ridicule--of the victim(s). There are too many wonderful scenes to count but here is where the movie messes up = it gets into womens lib (Matilde the scientist) and social justice themes (the deaf) too much they were not needed and extremely unlikely.Although life at Versailles was exaggerated that can go as an artistic point (to make things funnier and more outrageous)...but the odds of Ponceludon succeeding in his swamp work during the decade after the revolution are zero.If you can over look these story flaws it is an entertaining movie.Recommend
MartinHafer This movie is pretty to look at and well made, but I have always felt very indifferent from costume dramas--particularly those involving a lot of rich French aristos who spend all their time talking and congratulating themselves on their exceedingly high sense of self-importance. When I watched the old MGM film, MARIE ANTOINETTE, I found it to be dull and when I saw more recent films like DANGEROUS LIASONS, VALMONT and RIDICULE, I also thought they were awfully dull. Now I know many have enjoyed them and I wish them well, but these films all place so much emphasis on costumes, hair and the irrelevant trappings of extreme wealth. By the way, I am a history teacher and often I love historical films, but perhaps it's the "annoying American" in me that isn't particularly interested in noblemen and women--I much prefer films about REAL people--REAL people I can connect with. I am not saying that the vacuous people in these films aren't "real" but that it was sure hard to care about them or get into the films. In fact, I really think the best value in RIDICULE is illustrating just how worthless the aristos were in France and how ripe they were for revolution--sort of like a non-surreal and non-humorous version of a Buñuel film such as THE DISCRETE CHARM OF THE BOURGEIOSE.If you ask me, I'd much rather watch an old classic about the French Revolution, such as A TALE OF TWO CITIES or THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL--they're just a lot more interesting and I care much more about the characters.
writers_reign Leconte followed this with Une Chance sur deux as if to emphasise his versatility and mastery of all genres. On the one hand an ultra modern piece involving two over-the-hill iconic 'hard' men taking on the highly organized Drug Barons with all the car chases, technology and explosions that go with that territory and on the other the ultra sophisticated world of Versailles where the biggest crime is to utter a sentence that falls flat. Out of a premise that finds a Nobleman caring about the peasantry enough to journey to the Court and attempt to gain the ear of the King in order to win Royal investment to underwrite an engineering project to drain marshland Leconte has concocted a confection to delight both the eye and the ear in a world where the ultimate goal is neither money or sex but the perfect epigram. There are four principals and all shine and if Fanny Ardant and Jean Rochefort come out marginally ahead of Charles Berling and Judith Godreche well, she IS drop-dead gorgeous and he IS an all-round consummate Actor's Actor. Not for everyone but even here the usual excuse of not speaking French is flimsy given the excellent subtitles on the DVD. A soufflé prepared exclusively with Faberge eggs.
johnludley A period drama set in the world of the salons, cliques where wit or at least an acid tongue rule.Le Marquis Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy comes to court as an idealistic 'nobleman-engineer' hoping to secure royal funding to drain the marshes that afflict the local peasants with malaria.Redolent of Dangerous Liaisons but with a cause. Gregoire arrives thinking that his cause speaks for itself, is politically educated by the totty's father, shines, engages in the sexual intrigue, gets the girl, saves a bit of the world.Very, very enjoyable.