The King's Daughters
Encyclopedia
The King's Daughters is a 2000 French period drama film
directed by Patricia Mazuy
. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard
section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
. It was adapted from the novel La maison d’Esther by Yves Dangerfield.
, a school where girls receive a pious but liberal education. The first difficulty is that the students from the provinces all speak different regional languages and dialects and the first task is to teach them all to speak a standardised Parisian French.
After a few years of indifference, the school’s first aims prove impossible to attain. An important crisis arises from a performance by the students of an extract from Iphigenie
by Racine
. This provokes too much passion among the actors and so Madame de Maintenon asks Racine to write her a play for her students that praises virtue – this proves to be Esther
. The students put on the new play and, when the king and his court attend the production, Madame de Maintenon realises that this had made the nobles of the court view her protégées as targets for seduction and marriage. Marriage proposals mount up and one nobleman even manages to break into the school.
Madame de Maintenon decides to impose stricter rules and plunges into religion in an attempt to expiate her past. She asks an abbot to help her keep students on the right Christian moral path and keep them safe from the world. Instead of turning its students into an elite for the world outside, the school falls prey to realities, cuts itself off from reality and falls apart – the film ends with its final failure and closure.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Patricia Mazuy
Patricia Mazuy
Patricia Mazuy is a French film director and screenwriter. Her film Peaux de vaches was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival...
. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
. It was adapted from the novel La maison d’Esther by Yves Dangerfield.
Plot
In March 1685, Louis XIV’s final wife Madame de Maintenon wishes to set up a boarding school for young daughters of noble families that have fallen on hard times, the Maison royale de Saint-LouisMaison royale de Saint-Louis
The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a 'pensionnat' or boarding school for girls set up in 1684 at Saint-Cyr in France by king Louis XIV at the request of his second wife, Madame de Maintenon, who wanted a school for girls from impoverished noble families...
, a school where girls receive a pious but liberal education. The first difficulty is that the students from the provinces all speak different regional languages and dialects and the first task is to teach them all to speak a standardised Parisian French.
After a few years of indifference, the school’s first aims prove impossible to attain. An important crisis arises from a performance by the students of an extract from Iphigenie
Iphigénie
Iphigénie is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by the French playwright Jean Racine. It was first performed in the Orangerie in Versailles on August 18th 1674 as part of the fifth of the royal Divertissements de Versailles of Louis XIV to celebrate the conquest of...
by Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
. This provokes too much passion among the actors and so Madame de Maintenon asks Racine to write her a play for her students that praises virtue – this proves to be Esther
Esther (drama)
Esther is the name of a play in three acts written in 1689 by the French dramatist, Jean Racine. It premiered on January 26, 1689, performed by the pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, an educational institute for young girls of noble birth...
. The students put on the new play and, when the king and his court attend the production, Madame de Maintenon realises that this had made the nobles of the court view her protégées as targets for seduction and marriage. Marriage proposals mount up and one nobleman even manages to break into the school.
Madame de Maintenon decides to impose stricter rules and plunges into religion in an attempt to expiate her past. She asks an abbot to help her keep students on the right Christian moral path and keep them safe from the world. Instead of turning its students into an elite for the world outside, the school falls prey to realities, cuts itself off from reality and falls apart – the film ends with its final failure and closure.
Cast
- Isabelle HuppertIsabelle HuppertIsabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert is a French actress who has appeared in over 90 film and television productions since 1971. She has had 14 films in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award twice, for Violette Nozière and La pianiste . She is also the most...
- Madame de Maintenon - Jean-Pierre KalfonJean-Pierre KalfonJean-Pierre Kalfon is a French film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* The Rabbi's Cat * Parc * The Dreamers * Lulu * La Repetition...
- Louis XIV - Simon Reggiani - The Abbot
- Jean-François BalmerJean-François BalmerJean-François Balmer is a Swiss actor. He has worked extensively in French cinema, television and stage productions since the early 1970s.-Selected filmography:* Little Marcel * La Menace...
- Racine - Anne Marev - Madame de Brinon
- Ingrid Heiderscheidt - Sylvine de la Maisonfort
- Nina Meurisse - Lucie de Fontenelle
- Morgane Moré - Anne de Grandcamp
- Bernard Waver - Gobelin
- Jérémie RenierJérémie RenierJérémie Renier is a Belgian actor. He lives in Paris, France. His film debut was in the critically praised La Promesse , directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. He became better known to worldwide audiences in Brotherhood of the Wolf and L'Enfant...
- François de Réans - Jeanne Le Bigot - Lucie (child)
- Mathilde Lechasles - Anne (child)
- Alain Hinard - First soldier