''The King is Dancing'' (''Le Roi danse'') is a 2000 costume drama by Belgian filmmaker Gérard Corbiau based on

Philippe Beaussant Philippe Beaussant (6 May 1930 – 8 May 2016) was a French musicologist and novelist, an expert on French baroque music, on which he has published widely. He was the founder of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, of which he was the ar ...

's biography of

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas ...

, ''Lully ou le musicien du soleil'' (1992). The film, presenting libertine and pagan Lully as a natural ally of the early Enlightenment figure

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

in his conflicts with the Catholic establishment, focuses on Lully's personal relationship with the King, as well as his camaraderie with

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

and rivalry with Robert Cambert.

Plot

Lully (

Boris Terral Boris Terral (born 8 November 1969) is a French actor. He appeared in more than forty films since 1992. Selected filmography References External links * 1969 births Living people French male film actors People from Saint-Denis, ...

) starts to gain the favour of the 14-year-old King Louis in 1653 by giving him specially designed shoes for '' Ballet Royal de la Nuit''. His subsequent rise draws hostility from the old cadres of the court, particularly the royal composer Cambert (

Johan Leysen Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cann ...

). However, following

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...

's death, Louis (

Benoît Magimel Benoît Magimel (; born 11 May 1974) is a French actor. He was 14 when he appeared in his first film, and has starred in a variety of roles in French cinema. At age 16, Magimel left school to pursue acting as a career. In 2001, he won the Best Ac ...

) installs himself in full power as the king in 1661 and he is now at stake with the religious establishment created and controlled by his mother

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unt ...

(Colette Emmanuelle) at the

Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal R ...

. On the other hand, Lully's animosity with Cambert comes to a novel dimension after Cambert's mistress Madeleine Lambert (Cécile Bois), the daughter of Michel Lambert, marries Lully in 1662. Lully and another

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

favourite Molière (

Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo (; born 4 October 1953) is a French actor and musician of Turkish origin. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in nu ...

) are keen to further disarm the old court but they get to understand their limits when conflict becomes more manifest at events such as staging (and consequent ban) of ''

Tartuffe ''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; french: Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur, ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical thea ...

'' in 1664. Meanwhile, the passing years bring an end to Lully's position as the king's dance teacher and choreographer and he also has to face the emotional tensions growing with his wife's niece Julie (

Claire Keim Claire Keim (born Claire Lefebvre 8 July 1975) is a French actress and singer. Biography Keim was born in Senlis, Oise to an architect father and a dentist mother. She is in a relationship with French footballer Bixente Lizarazu, and lives in Sa ...

), which will culminate at the gala of Cambert's '' Pomone'' in 1671.

Cast

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

as Robert Cambert * Cécile Bois as Madeleine Lambert *

as Julie * Idwig Stéphane as

Prince de Conti The title of Prince of Conti (French: ''prince de Conti'') was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the princely house of Bourbon-Condé. History The title derives its name from Conty, a small town in northern France, c. 35 k ...

* Caroline Veyt as

Armande Béjart Armande-Grésinde-Claire-Élisabeth Béjart (1645 – 30 November 1700) was a French stage actress, also known under her stage name Mademoiselle Molière.Scott, Virginia (2010). Women on the stage in early modern France : 1540-1750''. Cambridg ...

* Ingrid Rouif as

Madame de Montespan Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

* Jacques François as Jean de Cambefort * Pierre Gérald as

Jean-Baptiste Boësset Jean-Baptiste Boësset (1614 – 25 December 1685) was a French composer of sacred and secular music, whose notable works include an ''Ave Regina caelorum'' and several ''airs de cour.'' He was the eldest son of the court composer Antoine Boësset ...

Vincent Grass Vincent Grass (born 9 January 1949) is a Belgian actor. He has appeared in a number of both European and American film and television productions, the first being the Belgian television production ''Siska Van Roosemaal'' in 1973. Grass played Fian ...

as Archbishop of Paris *

Jean-Louis Sbille Jean-Louis Sbille (14 March 1948) is a Belgian- French-speaking artist, radio and television producer, actor and writer. Career In the mid-70s, with the graphic designer and art director, Marc Borgers they created RUPTZ, an art video and perf ...

as Spectator * Colette Emmanuelle as

* Serge Feuillard as

Production

The film was shot on location at Versailles, as well as in other locations in France, Germany and Belgium. Sets for the film were built at MMC Studios in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

External links

*
BBC review of ''The King is Dancing''
2000 films 2000s historical films 2000s biographical films French historical drama films French biographical drama films Belgian historical drama films German historical drama films Films directed by Gérard Corbiau Films about classical music and musicians Films about composers Biographical films about musicians Biographical films about Louis XIV Films set in the 1650s Films set in the 1660s Films set in the 1670s Cultural depictions of Molière Cultural depictions of Cardinal Mazarin Cultural depictions of classical musicians French-language Belgian films 2000s French-language films Belgian biographical drama films German biographical drama films 2000s French films 2000s German films {{2000s-France-film-stub