Marquise is a drama about the rise and fall of a beauteous actress. As cheerfully portrayed by Sophie Marceau, the eponymous heroine is an engagingly ribald, but perhaps rather too modern, character. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and the mistress of the celebrated Racine, who wrote roles especially for her; but her fate, in the end, is a tragic one.
Acting
Marceau's committed chaos—she's either brilliant or unhinged, possibly both.
Costume
Absurdly gorgeous 17th-century fits that scream 'I have consumption and I'm hot.'
Production
Versailles on a budget, but the theatre scenes feel deliciously lived-in.
Director
Véra Belmont
Sophie Marceau
Marquise
Bernard Giraudeau
Moliere
Lambert Wilson
Racine
Patrick Timsit
Gros-Rene
Thierry Lhermitte
Louis XIV
Anémone
La Voisin
Remo Girone
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Georges Wilson
Floridor
Marianne Basler
Madame
Franck de la Personne
Monsieur
Romina Mondello
Armande
Estelle Skornik
Marie
Paolo Fosso
Beatrice Palme
Geneviève
Christine Joly
Madeleine Béjart
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sophie Marceau learned to dance, fence, and recite Racine's alexandrines for the role—then spent years claiming she couldn't remember filming half of it.
Director Véra Belmont was one of few women making French historical epics in the '90s; critics mostly ignored her while praising male directors for lesser work.
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