Based on an idea by Riccardo Freda who directed "li figlio di d' Artagnan"(1949) : only the beginning is similar : Raoul ,the son, was a novice,and the abbey's prior was killed :he set off for vengeance.
You may also remember Maureen O'Hara in "at sword's point" (1952);she was cast as Athos's daughter , opposite to Cornell Wilde's D'Artagnan Jr. In this latter film,historical mistakes abounded,but it was much fun to watch .
Tavernier's movie met mixed critical reception ;let's call it his holiday homework , and you will love it .
A champion of feminism ,he made the son a daughter whose daddy does not approve of her behavior:the action takes place circa 1660, at the end of Mazarin's reign and just before the "l' état c'est moi" Sun King.
As for the screenplay,call it "Alexandre Dumas revised and updated by Sacha Guitry "whom Tavernier adored :the final cast and credits is probably a tribute to him; it''s a tongue in chick swashbuckler , with a lot of puns,black humor ,and sudden new developments :never a dull moment ;many intellectuals did not see the joke, considering Tavernier a serious ,meaningful director ,which he is of course,but he decided to have fun and the results are enthralling ;he went flat out : the slave trade and the introduction of coffee (hot chocolate was to appear during the Sun king ,thanks to the Spanish queen ) , coded messages , a poet writing satirical tracts against the regime (played by the director's son,Nils ) a huge conspiracy against the future king : to do away with him and replace him by his (gay) brother who would become a puppet on a treacherous noble's string ,even the femme fatale,the woman in red .
The rapport the actors have is wonderful ,most of them belonging to the creme de la creme of French actors :Sophie Marceau is always gorgeous , dressed up as a man or as a woman:she was never taught how to wield a sword, but no matter ;Noiret is a tired but still dashing D'Artagnan ;Claude Rich ,as the traitor,has a very sweet way of getting rid of his poison supplier ; add Jean-Luc Bideau ,Raoul Billerey and Samy Frey as the three musketeers for good measure.
Guitry 's influence shows in the pieces of advice Nazarin gives to the king : to marry a Spanish princess and to have his gay kid brother marry an English princess ,;when he leaves his protégé 's room,he mumbles :"gosh ,I've forgotten to recommend him to revoke the edict of Nantes ". The Sun king would take these (wise?) advices later on : here he appears as a glutton :he's eating in both his scenes : and it's not that much false :all the letters (notably by the second wife of the brother,the Princess Palatine )tell it so:the king's appetite was huge .
It's popular cinema in the noblest sense of the word ; a cinema the sadly missed Tavernier , a giant of the French seventh art , loved .
You may also remember Maureen O'Hara in "at sword's point" (1952);she was cast as Athos's daughter , opposite to Cornell Wilde's D'Artagnan Jr. In this latter film,historical mistakes abounded,but it was much fun to watch .
Tavernier's movie met mixed critical reception ;let's call it his holiday homework , and you will love it .
A champion of feminism ,he made the son a daughter whose daddy does not approve of her behavior:the action takes place circa 1660, at the end of Mazarin's reign and just before the "l' état c'est moi" Sun King.
As for the screenplay,call it "Alexandre Dumas revised and updated by Sacha Guitry "whom Tavernier adored :the final cast and credits is probably a tribute to him; it''s a tongue in chick swashbuckler , with a lot of puns,black humor ,and sudden new developments :never a dull moment ;many intellectuals did not see the joke, considering Tavernier a serious ,meaningful director ,which he is of course,but he decided to have fun and the results are enthralling ;he went flat out : the slave trade and the introduction of coffee (hot chocolate was to appear during the Sun king ,thanks to the Spanish queen ) , coded messages , a poet writing satirical tracts against the regime (played by the director's son,Nils ) a huge conspiracy against the future king : to do away with him and replace him by his (gay) brother who would become a puppet on a treacherous noble's string ,even the femme fatale,the woman in red .
The rapport the actors have is wonderful ,most of them belonging to the creme de la creme of French actors :Sophie Marceau is always gorgeous , dressed up as a man or as a woman:she was never taught how to wield a sword, but no matter ;Noiret is a tired but still dashing D'Artagnan ;Claude Rich ,as the traitor,has a very sweet way of getting rid of his poison supplier ; add Jean-Luc Bideau ,Raoul Billerey and Samy Frey as the three musketeers for good measure.
Guitry 's influence shows in the pieces of advice Nazarin gives to the king : to marry a Spanish princess and to have his gay kid brother marry an English princess ,;when he leaves his protégé 's room,he mumbles :"gosh ,I've forgotten to recommend him to revoke the edict of Nantes ". The Sun king would take these (wise?) advices later on : here he appears as a glutton :he's eating in both his scenes : and it's not that much false :all the letters (notably by the second wife of the brother,the Princess Palatine )tell it so:the king's appetite was huge .
It's popular cinema in the noblest sense of the word ; a cinema the sadly missed Tavernier , a giant of the French seventh art , loved .