a unique vision of the great playwright in a daring film by Olivier Py

Olivier Py tackles Molière without complexes and delivers, in a baroque film, an offbeat, but true-to-life portrait of this national monument.

Olivier Py, actor, writer, man of the theater, and former director of the Avignon Festival, reveals with his Imaginary Molière little-known facets of this great actor and playwright, who has become an almost “untouchable” national icon. The film hits theaters on February 14, 2024.

“By death no devil! If I were only doctors, I would take revenge for his impertinence and, when he was ill, I would let him die without help. No matter what he did or said, I would not order him the slightest little bloodletting, the slightest little enema, and I would say to him: ‘Die, die, that will teach you another time to play at the Faculty..” On February 17, 1673, Molière prepared to go on stage at the Palais-Royal theater in Paris. Chalky face, wide eyes, the famous playwright does not know that he is going to play Imaginary sick for the last time.

Where Ariane Mnouchkine had embraced in 1978, in an epic biopic lasting more than four hours, the entire life of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, Olivier Py chose to concentrate his story on the last hour and a half of his existence, between the four walls of the Palais-Royal theater in Paris, before he died on stage, as legend has it.

An hour and a half punctuated by this last performance, on stage, but also behind the scenes, or even in the ranks of spectators who are not always very attentive, and where the king is conspicuous by his absence.

“Converging Sources”

Through this last performance, the entire life of the playwright is explored. The film evokes his life, his relationships with power, and also his intimate life. In this baroque-style film, Olivier Py reveals aspects of the life of the great playwright little known to the public. In particular this relationship that he maintained with one of the greatest actors of the time, Michel Baron.

“I knew a little about the world of 17th century theater, but I discovered wonderful things, like this love story between Baron and Molière, which is perhaps only a hypothesis, but which has a lot to do with it. from converging sources”, confides the director, in an interview with franceinfo Culture, who says he did a lot of research to write his script.

Between comedy and tragedy, the film dusts off a national monument, making him a complex character, with his gray areas and his paradoxes, with his flamboyance, his tenacity and his courage, his devouring passion, but also his weaknesses, or even his obsession with being abandoned by the sovereign. “What is interesting is precisely to try to ‘de-museumify’ and rehumanize Molière”, told franceinfo Culture Laurent Lafitte, who embodies this offbeat Molière with panache.

Shot in sequence, by candlelight, in a single setting and in warm, saturated colors, the film immerses the viewer in an almost unreal atmosphere while drawing an unexpected and bewitching portrait of this emblematic figure of French culture.

The sheet

Gender : Biopic, Drama, Historical
Director: Olivier Py
Actors: Laurent Lafitte, Stacy Martin, Bertrand de Roffignac
Country : France
Duration : 1h 34
Exit : 2024
Distributer : Memento Distribution
Synopsis : Paris, February 17, 1673. Like every evening, Molière takes the stage of the Palais-Royal theater to play Imaginary sick. This will be his last performance.