Life and loves of a playwright

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

The movie has a good idea at its centre. There is a missing period in the life of the 17th-century actor/playwright - after he was bailed out of debtors' prison - and Tirard fills in the gap with Monsieur Jourdain, a wealthy and married bourgeois who gets Molière released because he wants his help with a performance of his own play, with which he hopes to seduce a pretty socialite.

The play, of course, is awful, the girl ignores it and Jourdain finds Molière (whom he has disguised as a clergyman-cum-tutor called Tartuffe) heavily attracted to his neglected wife, Elmire. Added to all that, he is trying to marry off his reluctant daughter to a conman he thinks is suitably rich.

All this is sprinkled with quotes from Molière's real plays, such as Tartuffe and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. It is also very well produced, with some splendidly colourful tableaux. But the casting is problematical.

Romain Duris, a fine actor who came to the fore in England as the lead in The Beat My Heart Skipped, is a little uneasy in the role of Molière, as if period pieces are not quite his thing. Fabrice Luchini simply makes a hopelessly silly Jourdain and it is left to Laura Morante as Elmire to bring dignity to the proceedings.

The result is a bit curate's eggy, sometimes funny and always goodlooking, but neither a particularly good tribute to a great playwright nor a comedy with much weight behind it.

Moliere
Cert: 12A