IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.7K
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Upon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.Upon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.Upon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.
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It could be defined as experience. slow, precise, dark, bitter , sad, pictorial with accent on acting and cinematography than on story, it is inspired support for reflection about power and fragility and the efforts to save a life who change the West European history. film of details, atmosphere and small gestures, it is , in high level, usefull. for understand a period. for the accuracy of the end of a legendary reign . for the admirable performance of Jean - Pierre Leaud , who propose a so realistic Louis XIV , like his early brilliant Antoine Doinel.
a film for history class. for discover the essence of power. for the basic traits of each reign. for the unique beauty. for dialogues and for the splendid manner to propose a subtle fresco of the end of entire age .
actually is no different from any common people, no matter how many subjects surrounded His Royal Highness's deathbed. You cursed someone you hated so much with harsh words like: "I wish you die alone and nobody will give a Fxxk!" Well, practically and realistically speaking, everybody indeed die alone; your parents, your wife, your husband, your kids, your friends won't join you and die with you, no matter how they love you or hate you; and these people aforementioned, would also die alone one by one. When a plane or car crashed, a ship sank, a building on fire and collapsed like the twin tower of World Trade Center, an earthquake cracked up the mountain slop and crashing down on a village on the foothill, a whole village wiped out instantly; people died in great number at the same time in a mass death toll, even so everybody still died alone, in group, large or small, but every one of them still died alone. After hundreds of people eating the same food on the hot-cold counter-top in a buffet restaurant, when they take dump at home or elsewhere afterward, the stinking smell would be in some degree almost the same, to some degree, nobody can be separated and distinguished differently, and you cannot claim that yours got some independent unique odor.
Dying is always a lonely process no matter what. And for this film, all you should do is to focus on the cinematography, the lighting, the make- up, the costumes and the score(soundtrack) and the acting of all the participating actors. "Eight Million Ways to Die in L.A." still meant that you are the only person to die there, and die alone.
Dying is always a lonely process no matter what. And for this film, all you should do is to focus on the cinematography, the lighting, the make- up, the costumes and the score(soundtrack) and the acting of all the participating actors. "Eight Million Ways to Die in L.A." still meant that you are the only person to die there, and die alone.
If you enjoy 115 minutes of a sick, old man lying in his bed, struggling to eat, moaning and eventually dying, this is the right movie for you.
The biggest wonder of this film is that it had most of its audience sitting all the way through. For almost 2 hours of every minute detail of the last days of Louis the 14th, the greatest king France has ever known. Truth is though we do follow every minute detail we don't really see every thing. In fact what we do see is mostly close ups of the faces of the protagonists (mostly the face of Jean-Pierre Leaud who does a superb work as the dying king betrayed by his body, but keeping his mind sharp to the very last moment), we often only get to hear whats taking place while we keep on seeing these close ups. The result is a very beautiful, claustrophobic film, with very little plot development and very little action. Theatrical in the most cinematographic way - namely it's very theatrical but we always get to see it through the eye of the camera, did I forget to mention loads of close ups. So I did stay focused all the way to the end. And I do appreciate the technical mastery of the director and the cinematographer. And the acting was first class. But there's too little of any other element that could make it into a real masterpiece.
I'm not going to remember Louis's grunts and moans as he lies in bed, attended by far too many doctors to be of any use. No, I will remember the disputes--polite but still angry--between the doctors, sometimes involving a faith healer who has been called in, God knows why, to administer some foul elixir to Louis. The joke is that the doctors know hardly more than the quack about how to treat the sick. An inessential film, but it was good to see Leaud again.
Did you know
- TriviaMarks the first time director Albert Serra has chosen to work with professional actors.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Radio Dolin: 12 Best Movies of the Cannes Film Festival 2022 (2022)
- SoundtracksEl gest
Written and Performed by Marc Verdaguer
- How long is The Death of Louis XIV?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Last days of Louis XIV
- Filming locations
- Château de Hautefort, Hautefort, Dordogne, France(interiors and exteriors)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $43,635
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,002
- Apr 2, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $209,715
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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