the complex fate of a great female figure of the 18th century

CHERIE 25 – SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 AT 9:05 P.M. – TELEFILM

In popular memory, the name of Pompadour evokes a world of powdery gallantry, graceful simpering and hypocritical affection. This fiction by director Robin Davis is welcome, because it sheds light on the complex destiny of this great female figure of the 18th century.^e century.

At the origin of this achievement, the biography of Evelyne Lever, a specialist in the Ancien Régime, entitled Madame de Pompadour (Perrin, 2006). For the author, the“necessary friend” of Louis XV knew the fate of a mistress who would serve as wife, minister and therapist all at the same time. A brief historical reminder: Louis XV (1710-1774), known as the Beloved, married at the age of 16 a Polish princess, Marie Leszczynska, to whom he would have ten children in ten years. Mary, tired of being “always lying down, always fat, always giving birth”will close its door to the king who will console himself in the arms of his mistresses.

In 1745, Louis was 35 years old when he fell under the spell of M^me d’Etiolles, née Jeanne Poisson (1721-1764), a lovely young woman, a cultured socialite who, as her friend Voltaire wrote, “believed in her destiny and she was right”. The philosophers loved her, the devotees hated her. Daughter of a financier, wife of a farmer-general, she shone in the salons, laughing at the epigrams of Voltaire and Fontenelle.

Charlotte de Turckheim as Queen of France

Louis XV fell madly in love with it. With the intelligence that characterizes her, she was both mistress and confidant, almost a prime minister bisif the word attributed to Maurepas – “She undoes by night what was done by day” – is correct.

Screenwriters Alexandra de Broca and Olivier Pouponneau have revisited the life of this favorite to create a melodramatic fiction, in two ninety-minute episodes, of the extraordinary relationship forged and maintained, in the Age of Enlightenment, between a king of France very Christian and a lovely atheist, friend of encyclopaedists.

The pace is slow – the only action is the rise of a woman – but the image is beautiful thanks to a magnificent work on the costumes, the light and the interiors. The scenario sometimes turns into a photo novel. The queen, after being indulgent towards the favourite, declares war on her.

Hélène de Fougerolles is an unexpected, youthful and sparkling Pompadour, Vincent Perez an honorable Louis XV, handsome man, good rider. But the most astonishing composition is that of Charlotte de Turckheim as a dignified, resigned but always courteous Queen of France. Damien Jouillerot is perfect in the ungrateful role of the dolphin, a hateful bigot, who will use all means to get rid of the ” whore ” who was mistress of a king and his destiny.

Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, by Robin Davis. With Hélène de Fougerolles, Vincent Perez, Charlotte de Turckheim, Damien Jouillerot (Fr., 2006, 2 × 90 min).

Armelle Cressard