Just a minor detail about the summary on the main page:Cinq Mars did not die on the guillotine because it was not invented in the seventeenth century!He was beheaded and ,as the executioner was not experimented,he and his companions had a horrible death.
This movie from the brilliant series "La Camera Explore Le Temps " is dominated by Jean-Pierre Marielle's sensational portrayal of king Louis The Thirteenth that displays every nuance of fragility and desperation:he sometimes gets the urge to become the master but never gets round to it,becoming self-conscious when the Cardinal De Richelieu enters the scene.An austere man,whose friendship with his young marquis was true: almost all the historians wrote that this affair was platonic,considering the devout side of this monarch.A king afraid to die (the conspiracy takes place in 1942,and he would die the following year ,six months after the Cardinal;a stunning scene (historically accurate) shows the king and Richelieu ,lying on their bed ,sharing the same bedroom and talking about their death which draws near.
The Cardinal (well played by Pierre Asso ) is a very clever man who does not forget he is a member of a religious order and whose aim is not to get wealth but strengthen his sovereign's authority .He seems to play cat and mouse with the characters around him.He prepares the future :Mazarin,who is featured in the movie ,is his student ,a student who will fight the rebellious nobles when La Fronde breaks out.
Henri De Cinq Mars (Guy Moigne ) is rather insipid ;the king's friendship is a way to fulfill his ambitions;when he's denied the right to become a duke and thus being able to marry princess De Gonzague (Francine Bergé),his hatred for Richelieu will know no bounds.He's not a romantic Young hero -in the movie he rather looks like a selfish minion.Historian Alain Decaux calls him a traitor (he received money from Spain )and a birdbrain: he really believes that Louis will approve of his plot:he does not realize that the king does need the cardinal who keeps a close watch on everybody.
The king's brother,Gaston D'Orléans briefly appears at the beginning;he seems a fearful man in this scene,but he will play a prominent part in La Fronde Rebellion.
