Angelica, Marquise of Angels

Synopsis

Daughter of Baron de Sancé de Monteloup, raised very freely, Angelique rubs shoulders with young people of her age, especially Nicolas, her childhood friend, whom she does not leave indifferent. In order to complete her education, her father entrusts her to her cousin and neighbor, the Marquis de Plessis. Mocked by the son of the latter, who calls him the “Marchioness with the sad robe”, Angelique, fleeing, accidentally enters the chamber of the Prince de Condé and surprises the conspiracy conspiracy against the King Louis XIV , his brother and Mazarin , and Fouquet is one of the instigators.

She then steals the poison ( vitriol ) and the list of conspirators she hides elsewhere. Then, Angélique publicly accusing one of the conspirators present at the conspiracy castle against the king, the Prince de Condé, to drive him away, his father had to send Angélique 5 years in a convent. At the moment of leaving the cloister, we see that it has not been reduced but has improved. His father explains to him on his return that he was already ruined before his departure; however, under the advice of a man named Count de Peyrac, he resumed the operation of one of his abandoned lead mines, which he thought he could not draw. To thank him for his providential counsel, Sancé de Monteloup offered the count the hand of his daughter, which is a very advantageous marriage since the suitor is very rich. When Angélique asks her age, her father is satisfied to answer him “he is older than you” … After having learned this, Angelique finds Nicolas, who confesses to him his love.

The day of the wedding, the castle is jubilant but Angelique apprehends the meeting with her husband. The man who gets out of the long-awaited coach seems rather handsome, but he quickly introduces himself to Angelique as being Bernard d’Andijos, friend of Joffrey de Peyrac and come to get married in his place, according to the law of the marriage by proxy when the married do not live in the same city.

At the party, Andijos reveals to the bride that her husband is not ugly, but very hideous, and lame. Desperate, Angelique takes Nicolas to a nearby barn and offers himself to him, so that his “first” is a young and handsome man. However, at the moment of taking action, she changes her mind while Guillaume surprises them, the coachman. A fight ensues between the two men, during which Nicolas kills the old servant with a fake shot. Angelique then ordered him to flee, promising to find him at dawn to escape to America with him.

But she goes away as planned to find her husband for the religious wedding. His castle is splendid, apparently Renaissance exterior, while the interior and staff – almost entirely made up of black servants, sumptuously dressed – are of oriental inspiration. While she is dressed in her wedding dress, Angelique sees her lame husband far away. It is too much for the young woman, who throws herself on her bed crying. She will discover later that scars disfigure her and can only look away every time she looks at him, tearing tears to poor Joffrey.

At the wedding dinner, Angélique meets the Archbishop of Toulouse who suggests to Joffrey that some of his practices can be likened to witchcraft, which the person denies placidly.

At the time of the wedding night, Joffrey, understanding that he repels his wife, leaves her alone, announcing that he will wait until she is consenting.

The next day, he invites her to visit one of her mines, the secret of her wealth. He managed to refine the gold, thanks to the process of cupellation , which many consider as witchcraft. He also presents to him his companions in misfortune, to whom he has contracted his wounds, caused by the barbarism of men. While he offers Angélique an ingot, she discourages him and advises him to offer it instead to the workers of the mine, which can only charm Joffrey, always more crazy about his lady.

Little by little, Angelique’s disgust for her husband gives way to a fascination that eventually turns into love. When her husband fights a duel with the finest blade of the Languedoc, in order to wash away an affront to his wife, the fright that the fight causes him to throw Angelique into Joffrey’s arms, and into his bed.

While the count and the countess spin the perfect love, a child – Florimond – having sanctified their marriage, a messenger informs them of the upcoming arrival of King Louis XIV , returning from Saint-Jean-de-Luz , with his young and new wife, Marie-Thérèse .

The latter, received with all the honor and splendor possible, is not insensible to the charm of Angélique, introduced with theatricality. Vexed that the queen is much less beautiful than their hostess, the monarch fades Angélique roughly and leaves them without warning during the night. Joffrey, hastening to catch him to know the reasons for this hasty departure, is stopped by the royal guards and leads to the Bastille. Despite her new pregnancy, Angélique decides to join him in Paris, and deploys all his forces to know the charge. She meets a lawyer – François Desgrez – who offers her help, which she provisionally declined. In order to intercede for her husband,, cousin of the king, with whom she had forged links at the time of the arrival of Louis XIV in his stronghold). By refusing the royal advances, Angelique alienates the monarch who hunts her, throwing her, unknowingly, into the clutches of Monsieur, involved in the draft plot that Angelique had aborted several years before. Wishing to silence her definitively after several unsuccessful attempts, this one tries to assassinate her. However, Angelique manages to get away with it, and then relies on François Desgrez to defend Joffrey during his trial.

Count Peyrac is officially accused of witchcraft, the king having embastillé under this false pretext to avenge his wealth and happiness that was shady (which is reminiscent of the fate of Nicolas Fouquet jealousy Louis XIV). The trial offers us the vision of an unfair and biased justice, in the service of royal power (timely assassination of a key witness of the defense, eviction of another testimony, considered null because of the age of the witness (minor ), even arrest of the defender, who can not attend the statement of the judgment). If the trial is an opportunity for Angélique and Joffrey to exchange passionate and tearful looks, the count is none the less found guilty by the Court, with few voices.

The Count de Peyrac is condemned to be burned in the Place de Greve , while his wife is driven from her sister, Hortense, who fears to be compromised. Having nevertheless entrusted Florimond and her newborn Cantor, Angélique leaves alone and bribes the executioner to quickly complete Joffrey, avoiding the agony in the flames.

As she wanders aimlessly, she is approached by a dwarf – Barcarole – who leads her into what appears to be a sort of Court of Miracles . She finds there an old acquaintance: Nicolas, become “Calembredaine” the thief. The latter offers him a deal: he agrees to attack on the road the cart of convicts and deliver Joffrey if Angelique agrees to leave with him for the Americas, as they had promised several years ago. To save her husband, she agrees. The cart, intercepted by the bandits, turns out to be a decoy: Joffrey has in fact already been secretly brought in place of Strike. Rushing, Angelique, Nicolas and his acolytes arrive too late. The count has already passed away. Taking refuge in the haunt of Nicolas and the beggars, Angélique, annihilated, agrees to stay by their side and becomes “Angelique, Marquise des Anges”.

Fidelity to the original text

The film is relatively consistent with the paper version. However small errors or transformations slip here and there:

• Angelique is not sent to the convent by the Prince de Condé (who would have liked to drive him away after his imprudent declaration on a plot targeting the king), but by his father the Baron de Sancé after a getaway, unworthy of his rank, at during which she is committed with the peasants of her father. In the same way, it is not the prince who pays for his studies but the baron who goes into debt to give his children the education he needs for young nobles.
• The baron, having a relationship of trust with his daughter, confesses to her, well before she leaves the convent, the existence of her graphite. Besides, the proposal of marriage of the count of Peyrac, although being motivated by the lead pencil present in dowry in the keychain of Angelique, does not intervene on request of the baron but on that of the count.
• During the scene where Angelique offers her virginity to her childhood friend, she does not change at the last moment, but is interrupted by the faithful Guillaume. Moreover, this one is not killed by the young Nicolas whom he nevertheless puts to flight.
• If the accent is put on the film version of the pain the count suffers when his wife rejects him on his wedding night, in the book none of this. On the contrary, the count takes the thing with philosophy and even a humor of the most biting.
• The origin of the duel between the count and the knight of Germontaz is not an insult but a violent kiss, stolen from the young woman.
• At the Louvre, Angelique does not fall into the nets of Monsieur, brother of the king at the end of his interview with the sovereign, but later in the evening, as she leaves the palace.
• The rape scene at the Louvre is totally transformed. Indeed, De Vardes, in the book, certainly benefits from the weakness of the young woman who has just escaped an assassination attempt, but does not hit her anyway. More importantly, Angélique is even shown in an ambiguous light, since it is not without taking a certain pleasure (what the film is careful not to highlight).
• Angelique is not chased by her sister with her child Florimond, but alone. The film sets out to show us wandering with his child in a very understandable way of strengthening the pathos.
• The episode that is experiencing the greatest upheaval is that of the final scene of the film. Nicolas, become Calembredaine tries to make escape the count de Peyrac on the way leading in place of Strike, following a pact passed with Angelique. But this event is totally invented. No attempt at escape is fomented. In addition, the meeting between the young woman and Calembredaine intervenes only later, in the second volume of the cycle. Of course the dramatic effect induced by such a choice is also part of the same concern for a search for pathetic sentimentalism.

Technical sheet

• Original title: Angélique, Marquise des angels
• Director: Bernard Borderie
• Script: Claude Brulé , Bernard Borderie and Francis Cosne , from the eponymous novel by Anne and Serge Golon
• Dialogues: Daniel Boulanger
• Sets: René Moulaert
• Costumes: Rosine Delamare
• Photography: Henri Persin
• Editing: Christian Gaudin
• Sound: René Sarazin
• Music: Michel Magne
• Production: Francis Cosne and Raymond Borderie
• Production Companies: Francos Films and CICC (France) ; Gloria Film GmbH (German co-production) , FonoRoma (Italian co-production) and Pro-Artis Iberica (Spanish co-production)
• Distribution Company: SN Prodis
• Country of origin: France , Italy and Germany
• Original language: French
• Shooting in the studios of Boulogne and Cinecittà
• Format: color – 35 mm – 2,35: 1 ( Cinemascope – Dyaliscope process) – Mono sound
• Duration: 115 minutes
• Genre: adventure
• Release date :
  •  France : December 8 , 1964

Distribution

Soundtrack

Reward

• Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) 1966 : Best distribution for Gloria

Production

The scenes of the film were filmed in different castles: The castle of Tanlay in the Yonne was chosen to serve as a setting for that of Count Joffrey de Peyrac, while the castle of Marigny-le-Cahouët in the Côte-d’Or Gold will serve for the baron of Sancé de Monteloup. The Fontenay abbey in Marmagne will be used for the scenes concerning the convent of Poitiers. The castle of Plessis-Bourré will become the castle of the Marquis de Plessis. Note of course the views taken at the Palace of Versailles ¹ .

Suites of Angélique

The cycle includes five films made by Bernard Borderie and was a huge commercial success when released, several dozens of times rebroadcast on television since the first television broadcast.

• 1964 : Angelica, Marquise of the angels
• 1965 : Wonderful Angelic
• 1966 : Angelique and the Roy
• 1967 : Indomitable Angelic
• 1968 : Angelica and the Sultan

See also

Bibliography

• Christelle Taraud, ” Angélique et l’Orient: a certain vision of otherness “, Man and Society , Paris, L’Harmattan , vol.  4, n ^o 154 “Popular Cinema and ideologies”2004, p.  9-30 ( read online  [ archive ] )
• Daniel de Montplaisir , The Marquess of Pleasures: The True Story of the Marquise des Anges , Paris, Jacob-Duvernet, 2013.

Related Articles

• Angélique (literary series)
• Angelica , the remake
• Suzanne from Plessis-Bellière

External links

• (in) Angelique Marquise angels [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
• (En) Angelique, Marquise des Anges [ archive ] on Allociné
• (En) Angélique, Marquise des Anges [ archive ] on the Ciné-Ressources website ( Cinémathèque française )
• (En) Angélique, Marquise des Anges [ archive ] on Unifrance

Notes and references