Marquise

In this eye-candy costume drama, originally released to middling fanfare in 1997, radiant Sophie Marceau plays the titular character, a poverty-stricken woman in 17th-century France who dances to prominence in a traveling theater troupe and eventually charms her way into Parisian society to become a noted actress. In equal measures saucy and serious, director Véra Belmont’s Marquise brings to vibrant life both high and low 17th-century French society, with an impressive adherence to period authenticity as well as some tactful location shooting. Marceau’s expressive physicality goes a long way in her demanding role as the ruthlessly ambitious Marquise, who is happy to use her seductive physical talents to get ahead in show business. Marquise’s dreary life is ripe for change when famous playwright Moliere (Bernard Giraudeau) and actor Gros-Rene (Patrick Timsit) happen to catch her act. The immediately smitten Gros-Rene proposes marriage to Marquise, who agrees to be his wife as long as he promises her acting roles. But the stakes get higher as Marquise begins to make a name for herself, and it’s not long before she’s sleeping with some of the most influential people in French arts and letters. Marquise ends up pitting dramatist Racine (Lambert Wilson) against Moliere—and it’s her role in Racine’s Andromaque that becomes her star vehicle and also, ironically, her undoing. Extras include an interview with Belmont. Recommended. (M. Sandlin)