The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1966) - The Criterion Collection

Synopsis

Filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini brings his passion for realism and unerring eye for the everyday to this portrait of the early years of the reign of France’s “Sun King,” and in the process reinvents the costume drama. The death of chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, the construction of the palace at Versailles, the extravagant meals of the royal court: all are recounted with the same meticulous quotidian detail that Rossellini brought to his contemporary portraits of postwar Italy. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV dares to place a larger-than-life figure at the level of mere mortal.

Cast

Louis	Jean-Marie Patte
Colbert	Raymond Jourdan
Cardinal Mazarin	Silvagni
Anne d’Autriche	Katharina Renn
Madame du Plessis	Dominique Vincent
Fouquet	Pierre Barrat
Le Tellier	Fernand Fabre
Louise de la Vallière	Françoise Ponty
Marie-Thérèse	Joelle Laugeois

Credits

Director	Roberto Rossellini
Written and adapted by	Philippe Erlanger and Jean Gruault
Photographed by	Georges Leclerc and Jean-Louis Picavet
Editing	Armand Ridel
Production Design	Maurice Valay
Costumes	Christiane Coste

Disc Features

New, restored digital transfer
Taking Power, a multimedia essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
Video interview with artistic advisor Jean Dominique de la Rochefoucauld and script supervisor Michelle Podroznik
Video interview with Renzo Rossellini
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by critic Colin MacCabe