French Period Drama

In 19th century France, a peasant winemaker endeavors to create the perfect vintage.

In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.

A story of doomed passion between two genius writers of the 19th century - novelist George Sand and poet Alfred de Musset.

The story of a married silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler in 19th century France traveling to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out their African supply. During his stay in Japan, he becomes obsessed with the concubine of a local baron.

Following the arrival of a deaf and mute vagrant, a young woman, Josephine, disappears from her family estate. She follows him deep into the woods even though she seems to be disgusted by him, but does Josephine want to follow him?

Corbiau repeats the Farinelli formula, artistic rivalry and social private drama expressed in dazzling, sometimes excessively lavish baroque scenery, music and costume, but this time in its ultimate setting: Versailles. There are two protagonists - first the title character, Louis XIV, the French sun-king who has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer (like Nero wrote and performed musical poetry), and starts asserting himself against the entourage of his Medici mother, the regent during his minority, by building his palace complex and launching a 'fitting' new, mainly musical display of baroque show. Secondly the musical genius Gianbattista Lulli ('Jean-Baptiste') Lully, a Florentine upstart of unbridled ambition, quickly gains the king's absolute trust, despite the nationalist and aristocratic opposition to a low-born Italian, and thus turns the normally socially humble post of court composer into a 'ministerial portfolio of culture' of Cabinet rank, complete with a monopoly which kills of his artistic rivals in operatic theater. The script also weaves a complex web of court scheming for individual power and social interests, and even a sadistic but accidental murder on a young valet, producing a sensuous and sumptuous drama too complex for this format, ending in a freakish but fatal accident. Louis XIV's mother was Ana de Austria (in French, Anne d' Autriche), the daughter of one of the Hapsburgh Kings of Spain. Maria di Medici (in French, Marie de Médicis) was his grandmother, his father's mother. She was dead before Louis XIV reached the throne. Please correct the reference to "his Medici mother"

Vatel is the cook of Prince Condé. When the prince invites Louis XIV to hunt, he has to give lavish banquets in order to fall in his favor. But when Vatel falls in love with the king's mistress, love and duty come into conflict.

Valjean, a former criminal, has atoned for his past and now finds himself in the midst of the French Revolution, avoiding a law-obsessed policeman hell-bent on capturing him.

How could Napoleon, the man of war and pioneering military strategist, meekly accept being locked up on a storm-lashed rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean? What system of defence, and thus of attack, can he dream up to loosen his jailers' grip? On Saint Helena, the far-flung island chosen by his enemies, Napoleon fights a mysterious battle, his last and most important, and one that history has kept secret all these years.

Upon returning home after a ten year absence, a Colonel in Napoleon's army discovers that his wife has remarried and has used his pension to amass great wealth.

A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friend", escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.

During Napoleon's exile on St. Helena, some loyalists hire a look-alike to swap places with the deposed Emperor. While the impostor lives in luxury on the island, the real Napoleon returns to Paris in order to retake the throne.

Set in the seventeenth century, an Italian nobleman weds an impoverished countess, who is wooed by the King of Piedmont and faces pressure from his entire court to succumb to his wishes.

Based on the classic didactic novel, the action centers on the noble lady who soon becomes exposed to the sexual and political intrigues of the French court of the religious wars era.

To satisfy his creditors, a witty actor reinvents himself as a satirical playwright, with uproarious, yet bittersweet, results.

The rise and fall of a beauteous actress. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favorite of the Sun King, Louis XIV.

During the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something - the time itself, perhaps.

In pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman left penniless by the political unrest in the country must avenge her family's fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace.

The title of this major French costume drama means "Louis, child-king", and indeed it's a fascinating fresco about the formative years of the young king Louis XIV, before he became the Sun-king at Versailles. It was a dark and violent period, when the Louvre (meaning 'wolves hunt castle', hunting was a major aristocratic pastime), then still the somewhat gloomy royal palace, was the battle field of palace intrigues while the regency was held by queen-mother Anne of Austria but the actual head of the royal government was the aging cardinal Giulio Mazirini ('Mazarin'), the less-known Italian successor of Richelieu, who also introduced to the court and the kingdom a host of his countrymen from whom Louis would learn the passion for Italian culture, especially music which would flourish under the direction of Lully (but that later story is another movie, "Le Roi danse"). The elaborate script sketches the story of French power politics, too complicate and devious to summarize in any detail, but mainly from the viewpoint of the immature king under maternal guardianship, who probably didn't comprehend half of the grave troubles focusing on the strife between the official Catholic church and those claiming freedom of religion, especially for the Huguenots, but in reality mainly driven by personal and family ambitions and the grip of nobles on the kingdom at the expense of the royal power, and climaxing in a full rebellion, known as the Fronde, which forces the royal family to flee for their lives, an experience that may have decided Louis to dedicate his reign to preventing a repeat by establishing absolutism as he did. Some narration is done by Louis's younger brother Philip, the duke of Anjou, who seems smarter but as the spare heir is condemned to life in a golden cage, overshadowed by Louis while any 'disrespect' for his crowned sibling is punishable on the spot by strap lashes administered on his bare behind by a servant.

Famed builder Le Notre is tasked with building an ethereal palace for King Louis XIV that transcends beauty. Le Notre hires Sabine de Barra to design and construct the outdoor ballroom and is soon captivated by her beauty.

An unexpected romance blooms after the the youngest daughter of a merchant who has fallen on hard times offers herself to the mysterious beast to which her father has become indebted.

Drama centering around the life at the court of Louis XIV and the role of the Marquise de Maintenon.

13th century France. To live, to survive, requires weapons. Which do you choose? Weapons of war, which give the power to punish and kill? Or the sword of knowledge, which gives the power to read and heal? Two brothers, separated long ago, must do battle. Alongside, and coming between them, a woman... Thomas, the mercenary, his body marked by scars of varying degrees of valor, left the family farm many years ago. When he returns, his mother, the local healer, is dead. She passed on her skills to her younger son, Arnaud. But he has lost his memory after a beating from a gang of ruthless outlaws. And so, Arnaud's young and defiantly resourceful wife, Guillemette, must persuade Thomas to help her in the quest for lost knowledge.

Paris, 1830: Vidocq is killed by a mirror masked man. A thief turned investigator, he was working on a case of men killed by lightning. His biographer tries to solve the case.

In a small French colony, a drunken man kills someone. While a guillotine is being shipped in, he changes, becoming a good and popular man.