Ridicule

Ridicule is set in the court of Versailles in 1783, six years before the French revolution. Louis XVI reigns, but the real supreme ruler is wit -- the biting, malicious kind of verbal parry that leaves one's victim in a state of ridicule and disgrace. A mastery of wit is crucial to gaining access to the court and its inner circles of vipers. Based on rich historical detail, the French film Ridicule paints a picture of a sharp-tongued den of vicious courtiers, decadent disciples of a verbal sport that may, perhaps, herald the spectacular downfall of the monarchy. To this court comes the provincial nobleman Ponceludon de Malavoy (Berling), who is on a mission to beseech the king to fund his engineering project designed to rid his home region, the Dombes, from its deadly mosquito infestation. He arrives a dedicated, earnest visionary devoted to improving the dire conditions back home. Once at Versailles, Ponceludon is seduced by the luxury of the court and the dizzying lifestyle of the aristocracy. Court veteran Marquis de Bellegarde (Rochefort) takes a shine to Ponceludon and offers him a home and an education in the ways of the court. Critical rules include not laughing at one's own jokes and excluding all usage of puns (spurned as the lowest form of wit). The aristocracy also frowns on this pointless new English invention called “humor” since it appears to lack clear objects of ridicule or devastation. Soon, Sabrina-style, Ponceludon is becomes smitten with Bellegarde's beautiful daughter Mathilde (Godreche), whose feminist thinking and dedication to her scientific research seems rather advanced for the times. Mathilde, in turn, is on the verge of marrying a rich, old lecher with the hope of securing funding for all her future experiments. Ponceludon, simultaneously, becomes seduced by the powerful Countess de Blayac (Ardant), a member of the king's inner circle whose patronage could assist him in gaining the king's ear. Ponceludon proves to be a quick study and, as time passes, the maintenance of his new lifestyle begins to supersede his reasons for coming to Versailles in the first place. It's a classic situation and you can be certain that Ponceludon is unprepared for the tumble that lies ahead. And that's probably the point of Ridicule: something along the lines of “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” Director Patrice Leconte (The Hairdresser's Husband, Monsieur Hire) again displays his keen observation of the minute details that transpire between people, though Ridicule doesn't share the same mordant perversity as his previous American successes. It does prove that certain games that people play never go out of fashion. (Opens 12/25)