Film Review: Moliere

I am not a student of the French writer Moliere. I know he is famous for his farce comedies of the 17th century. I thought it might be an educational experience. I loved the period costumes and the sets. I also learned a lot about the life of Moliere. At the same time I was watching a farce comedy. We meet Moliere working with a ‘raggle taggle’ group of traveling actors. Moliere is tired of comedy and wants to write tragedy. He ends up in jail. In order to free himself he accepts an offer from a rich merchant to help him seduce a young woman. It is hard to believe why the merchant is interested because he has a beautiful wife. The merchant is a fool and completely unaware of the lovely wife he has at home. He is totally undesirable. The lady of his dreams is a flighty flirty woman interested in material things. We further get to dislike the merchant when he promises his daughter to the son of a rich noble even thought she is in love with another young man. Moliere flirts with the merchant’s wife and there is even talk about her running away with him. Everybody seems to be in love with someone else. People are hiding under desks or listening behind doors. Moliere realizes that the audience wants comedy and that is what he does best. Of course it all ends well. It is like an opera without the singing. Timing is so important in this type of comedy. The cast performs well and you come away feeling you have been to the theatre.