RIDICULE

France, 1996, 102 minutes, Colour.
Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort, Fanny Ardant, Judith Godreche, Bernard Girardeau, Carlo Brandt, Vincent Lindon, Albert Delpy, Dominic Pinon.
Directed by Patrice Leconte.


Ridicule was the official French entry for the Foreign Language category for the Oscars. It opened the Cannes Film Festival, 1996. It was directed by Patrice Leconte who made Monsieur Hire and The Hairdresser's Husband and stars, Fanny Ardant, Charles Berling and Jean Rochefort.

The setting is France. The time is 1780. It is the period of Dangerous Liaisons and the two films are related in tone and theme. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are king and queen of France but, in just over a decade, they will have been executed and the French Revolution will have destroyed the ancien regime. It is an age of decline, even decadence.

The film's title, Ridicule, is best translated as `witty mockery'. And ridicule is the fashion at court and the criterion for moral (or amoral) judgment. Voltaire is dead, but the heritage of mordant wit has become part of the way of life - but, without the intelligence and philosophy that marked Voltaire's writing.

The exercise of ridicule means that the criteria for judgments (in all senses) are to be objective: the innate logic of words and their meaning, the application of logic, the complete disregard of an individual's personal feelings. Ridicule has also become a game, played at dinner tables or in the salons of the intelligentsia, where there is deliberate disregard for personal feelings, with contempt for the victims of the ridicule.

Intuition has to be the other characteristic of ridicule. At one stage, a list of categories of wit is offered. The word-play and the ideas-play are the centre of wit and transformed into weapons of ridicule.

The type of the culture in this pre-revolutionary aristocratic France is `intuitive-thinking'. Its manifestation in society means that the expectations are that the wit be extraverted. And, with the leisure of the wealthy classes, there is no urgency to reach conclusions. One stays with and relishes the wit and the impact of the ridicule.

It makes quite some impact in the film because the central character, a country hydrographer with plans to drain the Dombes' swamps of France, goes to Versailles to make a case for royal support of his project. He finds that the court has no interest in his petition, no interest in truth. Rather, he has to spend time idly waiting, but also developing word skills and cruelty to get the King's attention. He does. But then the film reprises the theme, `What does it profit to gain the whole world and lose one's soul?'.

It should be said that the film is sumptuous in sets, decor and costumes as well as beautiful in its photography. We are transported into another world. However, it is not just a pretty period piece. It is a portrait, a critical portrait of a decadent society that needs to be overthrown.

Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons might have been titled `Ridicule and Seduction'. We see the same cruelty, but the focus is more on the individuals and their exercise of power. Glenn Close's Madame de Merteuil is the mistress of these power games and control.

It should be said that, while wit can be a strong characteristic but, when the wit is an abuse of power in ridicule, the culture is not exhibiting the qualities, but is trapped, destructively.

1. The title? In French? In English? Wit? Mockery? Esprit?

2. An 18th century story, France, the monarchy, the 17th and 18th centuries and the rulers, the luxury, manners and morals, buildings, extravagance? Leading to the uprising, and the French revolution and the death of the King of the Queen?

3. Costumes, decor, Versailles? The contrast with the swamp lands? Homes, court? The musical score and the music of the period?

4. Wit, mordant wit, cruelty, mockery, humour, use of power, acquiring status and prestige?

5. The opening, the Chevalier, the old man, the reminiscences about the past, ridicule and humiliation, the urination? Setting the tone?

6. Dombes, the swamp lands, Gregory, Baron, his engineering skills, his care for people, his motivation to drain the swamp, the intention to go to court, travelling, his being robbed? Been taken in by the doctor? The doctor, a minor noble, his medical skills, his use of wit?

7. French society, Gregory as the target, the physician coaching him, improving, Madame and her relationship with the abbe, the sexual relationship, cheating at cards? Gregory, the death of his sponsor, the widow, his deciding that he would not reveal the cheating, the process and progress of his project?

8. The court, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, pomp, corruption?

9. The episode with the shoe, the abbe, the noble falling asleep, the removal of his shoe, in the fire, his being woken, his humiliation at not having his shoe, the requirement to have all clothes for an audience with the King? His suicide?

10. Mathilde, the doctor’s daughter, arranged marriage, wealth, her interest in fostering her science experiments, paying her father’s debts? Working with Gregory, the attraction, the issue of money, his not wanting to stand in her way?

11. Paul, the episode of the deaf mute, court?

12. The dinner, Madame and her revenge, the joust of wit and ridicule, the wit, elimination of the guest because of no extra places? The atmosphere of the dinner?

13. The abbe, his blasphemy at court, his fall? Madame, focusing on Gregory, the sexual relationship, manipulation, arranging so that the doctor and Mathilde should learn about the relationship?

14. The deaf at court, the abbe teaching them, the court and the mockery, some interested in the sign language, – even wit?

15. At court, Gregory and his being taken into the king’s entourage, the issue of the canon, his engineering suggestions, the reaction of the canon engineer, the challenge to a duel, the warning against it, Gregory participating, the death of the canon engineer? The King’s not being able to receive him so soon after the death in the duel, yet affirming his honour?

16. Madame, still wanting revenge, the masked ball, Gregory, his tripping, the mockery and ‘Antipodes’? His leaving with Mathilde, defying the group, denouncing corruption, Madame and her tears?

17. The revolution, Gregory and Mathilde living in France, achieving the draining of the swamp – and her father going to Dover, and the discovery of English humour?