Summary
France, 1719. Four years after the death of the Sun King Louis XIV, the reins of
power are held by the regent, Philippe d'Orléans. Both libertarian and libertine,
the regent is a man of profound contradictions. He sympathises with the plight of
his people, agonises over the state of his country - which is close to bankruptcy - but
is powerless to change things. His right-hand man is the ambitious Abbé Dubois,
a man of even lower moral standards, a devout atheist who blasphemes at the altar by day
and indulges in the most obscene orgies by night. Meanwhile, the Marquis de
Pontcallec, an impoverished noble, is stirring up an uprising in Brittany, in protest
against the imposition of heavy taxes and the violation of a treaty between the province
and France. To appease the English and further his own ambitions to become archbishop,
Dubois coerces Philippe d'Orléans into quashing the rebellion and executing Pontcallec...
Review
Bertrand Tavernier’s inspired portrait of regency France (the period of transition between
Louis XIV and Louis XV) sheds some light on a comparatively obscure period in French history.
It is also a sumptuous and entertaining piece of cinema, very much in the tradition of
the grand French historical film. The ever-resourceful Tavernier brings a few of
his own innovations to give the film a contemporary feel - for example, extensive use
of the handheld camera, modern dialogue, some surreal comic touches - allowing his
audience to develop a closer rapport with the characters in the film.
Que la fête commence is essentially a colourful biopic of three historical
figures: the regent Philippe d'Orléans, his advisor and minister, the Abbé
Dubois, and the Breton trouble-causer Marquis de Pontcallec. All three characters
- each flawed and emblematic of a France which has fallen into decadence and complacency
- are brought to life through the superlative performances of Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort
and Jean-Pierre Marielle. In what should be considered one of his finest screen
roles, Noiret manages to convey the inner turmoil, the self-loathing and feckless impotence
of the regent - a tragicomic character of Shakespearian dimensions, somewhere been Falstaff
and King Lear.
Although Tavernier had some difficulty getting financial backing for the film, it has
proven to be one of his most highly rated works. It garnered no less than four awards
at the Césars ceremony in 1975, in the categories: best direction, best screenplay,
best supporting role (Jean Rochefort) and best set design. The music for the film,
which is stunningly evocative of the period, was taken from manuscripts written by Philippe
d'Orléans, himself an accomplished musician.
Although most of the film is closely based on historical fact, its writers (Tavernier
and Jean Aurenche, a formidable team if ever there was one) do allow themselves a few
flights of fantasy. One example of this is the film’s touching - although slightly
contrived - ending in which the regent (traumatised by the Pontcallec incident) is suddenly
brought into contact with the suffering of the ordinary French people. The result
of the encounter is one of barely suppressed bitterness and brutality, the smouldering
fire which would flare up into bloody revolution sixty years later. Although the
symbolism is a little too obvious, it does provide an appropriate conclusion to a drama
which has portrayed so vividly a world of depravity and corruption, a world which is ripe
for purging.
© James Travers 2003
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