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Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Edouard Baer, Ludivine Sagnier ... see more see more... , Fanny Valette , Jean-Claude Jay , Melanie Dos Santos , Gonzague Montuel , Gilian Petrovsky , Sophie-Charlotte Husson , Eric Berger , Arié Elmaleh

In 1645, the French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin -- better known as Molière -- mysteriously disappeared for several weeks, and this lavish comedy drama imagines a scenario that could ex... read more read more...plain what may have happened to him. At this time, Molière (Romain Duris) is touring the French countryside with his traveling theater company, and he's yet to be recognized as one of the continent's great authors (or achieve significant financial success). Molière is put in jail after skipping out on some unpaid debts, but is freed after his fine is paid by two strangers. Molière discovers his benefactors are acting on behalf of Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini), a very wealthy man who has a beautiful wife, Elmire (Laura Morante) and two lovely daughters. However, Jourdain has fallen head over heels for Celimene (Ludivine Sagnier), a gorgeous widow, and he's written a short play in order to demonstrate his feelings for her. Jourdain needs someone to help him polish his script and serve as an acting coach, and he's recruited Molière for the job. Needing the money, Moliere accepts, but he poses as a man of the cloth, Monsieur Tartuffe, to keep his identity a secret. Molière soon realizes that Jourdain's talent exists only in the rich man's imagination, and that Jourdain already has a rival for Celimene's affections, the charming but duplicitous Dorante (Edouard Baer). Molière was written and directed by Laurent Tirard. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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10,669 ratings

Critics

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86 critics

PG-13, 2 hr.

Directed by: Laurent Tirard

Release Date: July 27, 2007

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DVD Release Date: November 20, 2007

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Flixster Reviews (1,062)

  • RossCollinsUK
    April 4, 2008
    RossCollinsUK
    Entertaining period comedy with beautiful sets and engaging acting. It tells the story of French playwright Molière's early days, as if they were indeed as farcical as his plays. C'est très drole!
  • dunmyer
    August 5, 2007
    dunmyer
    [size=3]"Moliere," starring French dreamboat [b]Romain Duris[/b] as the legendary 17th-century playwright himself, is wonderfully funny and intelligent from first moment to last, all with a light joie de vivre that seems to be part of the French DNA.[/size]

    [size=3][img]http://... read morewww.canoe.com/divertissement/cinema/entrevues/2007/04/09/molposter.jpg[/img][/size]

    [size=3]I have heard grumblings from some critics who say that the film is simply a recapitulation of one of Moliere's plays. I can't comment on that, as I haven't read any of his work. What I do know is that this film is gorgeous, heart-felt, superbly acted and directed, surprising, witty and overflowing with life. I recommend it to anyone, except [/size][size=3]maybe to Moliere scholars, who presumably have seen it all before.[/size]

    [size=3][img]http://www.sep7.ca/local/cache-vignettes/L520xH347/moliere2-e948d.jpg[/img][/size]

    [size=3]The plot surrounds Moliere being rescued from debtors' prison by an extravagantly wealthy merchant named Monsieur Jourdain, who is striving to win the heart of a young, beautiful, well-educated Comtesse. Since he is married, this Comtesse would be his mistress. (The tradition of the mistress in France is like nothing we have in America. In France it is almost presumed that a married man would have a mistress -- or more recently, a boyfriend. Vive la France!)[/size]

    [size=3]Jourdain, who is hilariously played by [b]Fabrice Luchini[/b], [/size][size=3]is hoping to captivate the ravishing Comtesse by writing a play that will impress her. [/size][size=3]Moliere is to move into Jourdain's immense chateau and tutor Jourdain without his family knowing. Moliere is to masquerade as a priest come to protect the soul of Jourdain's youngest daughter. [/size][size=3]Watching the ribald, devilish Moliere attempt to lead prayers was priceless.[/size]

    [size=3]Complexities emerge when Moliere falls in love with Madame Jourdain and the erotic adventures of Jourdain's older daughter come to light. The local aristocrat also brings his own intrigues. Woven through all of it is the struggle within Moliere himself to trust his talent in all its oddness. When he tells the artistically minded Madame Jourdain that there is no such thing as comedy with philosophical depth, her response is simply and powerfully, "Then invent it." Would that all young artists had a Mme. Jourdain to inspire them.[/size]

    [size=3]He does come to believe in himself, and nearly 400 years later we're still talking about him. That's pretty damn good.[/size]

    [size=3]I'm sure anyone who sees this film will enjoy him or herself immensely. But I can't say it's a superior artistic accomplishment. Formally speaking, it's run of the mill. It stays completely within the established conventions of modern mainstream cinema. It doesn't show even the slightest bit of interest in charting new territory, formally or even thematically. It's a delight, but no one would call it artistically audacious. Thus I cannot rank it higher than an 8.[/size]
  • fb1144932598
    October 4, 2008
    fb1144932598
    As someone else said somewhere, magnifique! This was like watching a Moliere play. All of the elements he later used are here. The actor disguised as a priest. The dilletante husband. The beautiful wife. The tutors for every subject then in vogue. The daughter who secretly loves ... read morethe boy next door. The servants who turn a blind eye to the shenanigans around them. It's all there. As was shown at the end, after Moliere toured the countryside for many years, he returned to Paris and staged the comedic plays that this movie posits he lived during the historically unexplained absence of two years. Watch this and you may learn more about Moliere and his plays than you realize.
  • gator681
    September 20, 2008
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Moliere" starts in 1658 with playwright and actor Moliere(Romain Duris) leading his acting troupe to a triumphant return to Paris after perfomring throughout rural France for years but he aims to do more serious plays than his usual farces.(So, I guess you c... read moreould say he was a 17th century Woody Allen, minus the space aliens.) 13 years earlier, he was not so fortunate as he was arrested for debts unpaid but is rescued by Jourdain(Fabrice Luchini), a wealthy merchant, who assumes his debts in exchange for his theatrical coaching to win the hand of Marquise Celimene(Ludivine Sagnier). At the first opportunity, Moliere makes a break for it but is simultaneously deterred by a very large dog and enchanted by Jourdain's wife(Laura Morante)...[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Moliere" is a misguided and awkward attempt to explore the creative process. Well, at least it looks great. Maybe, it would have helped if I knew more about the life and works of Moliere. What I can sense is that he was some kind of comic genius. Ironically, the film is at its weakest when it tries to be funny while the serious parts are not half bad, as long as they are allowed to maintain some kind of momentum. Under such conditions, a good cast can do little to help. Ludivine Sagnier comes closest to succeeding but even Laura Morante cannot shine with material like this. And it is especially strange considering Fabrice Luchini was on similar ground several years back in "Beaumarchais the Scoundrel."[/font]
  • wbgoose13
    September 18, 2007
    wbgoose13
    Perpetually enjoyable for all its familiarity. Entire cast helps take up the slack.
  • Doctor0Quinzel
    December 14, 2009
    Doctor0Quinzel
    It was just okay
  • mvieaddict
    June 28, 2009
    mvieaddict
    Moliere was a nice, gentle, warm comedy, with moments of great hilarity and sadness.The original idea of the movie was quite seducing, showing us part of Molière's life as if he were in a Molière's play. This fictional biography was what Molière had meet in his youth and all the... read more characters he used as figures to his future plays.

    I found the film a little long for what's it's worth. Some scenes were not needed and still they last forever and some unfunny situations were too long revealed. Example the love story of the daughter of the family, was predictable and boring. This film is not for everyone, but if you like French humor and a little romance you really can't go wrong with Moliere.
  • dippitydoo2
    April 11, 2008
    dippitydoo2
    Resist all urges to compare this to Shakespeare in Love, though you'll be tempted. I rode the wave with this movie the entire way... if it were an American movie, it would have been nominated for awards.
  • extravatrek
    March 29, 2008
    extravatrek
    Moliere is everything that Becoming Jane is not; it is engaging with actors sporting sympathetic roles, it's believably human with passion and deceit, it's lusty beneath layers of Renaissance era garments, and it's humorous, sad, and inspirational as any lifescape should be. That... read more said, historical movies without gratuitous violence or star power, that are subtitled and infused with Middle Aged customs and nobles oblige, won't appeal to the unschooled layperson... except for this one.
  • SDphotoggirl
    February 15, 2008
    SDphotoggirl
    I admit to being extremely bored by this film. I turned it off halfway through and will try to watch it agin but cannot promise I will make it all the way through because I have no interest in it.

View All Moliere (Moliere ou Le comedien malgre lui) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Terry Lawson
August 24, 2007
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Director and cowriter Laurent Tirard are clearly under the sway of Shakespeare in Love, but the talented Duris is miscast as the wily Moliere, and Moliere has none of Shakespeare's giddy charm. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
August 23, 2007
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

An extravagant and thoroughly irresistible story of intrigue, romance, comedy and artistic inspiration. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
August 16, 2007
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

Like the playwright's comedies, at its best Moliere shows the depths beneath the archetypes. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
August 10, 2007
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Woefully miscast as the seminal 17th-century French farceur Molière, the intense, black-maned young French movie star Romain Duris never seems more comfortable than the brief moments when he's rotting... Full Review

Liam Lacey
August 10, 2007
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

In making a comedy about a writer famed for his perfectly tuned wit, the filmmakers have inspired other expectations. The result is as off-putting as biting into a confection in which the sugar has be... Full Review

Bill Stamets
August 10, 2007
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

Moliere hardly matches the clever mockery of its 17th century inspiration. Full Review

Ryan Wenzel
August 10, 2007
Ryan Wenzel, Chicago Reader

Through homage to Moliere's works and by the film's own example, [director] Tirard reminds us that comedy can provoke both laughter and thought. Full Review

Wesley Morris
August 10, 2007
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

As a piece of speculative biography, the movie is unpersuasive. Full Review

Colin Covert
August 9, 2007
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Although you may fidget 90 minutes in, a strong finale saves the day, and as some other playwright said, all's well that ends well.

Michael Phillips
August 9, 2007
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Director and co-writer Laurent Tirard's pleasant but tame approach to his birth-of-a-major-world-dramatist portrait has its virtues. Full Review

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