456 The Taking of Power by Louis XIV

[domino harvey]

The Taking of Power by Louis XIV

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Filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini brings his passion for realism and unerring eye for the everyday to this portrait of the early years of the reign of France’s “Sun King,” and in the process reinvents the costume drama. The death of chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, the construction of the palace at Versailles, the extravagant meals of the royal court: all are recounted with the same meticulous quotidian detail that Rossellini brought to his contemporary portraits of postwar Italy. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV dares to place a larger-than-life figure at the level of mere mortal.

Special Features

- New, restored digital transfer
- Taking Power, a multimedia essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
- The Last Utopia, a documentary about Rossellini’s late career
- Video interview with artistic advisor Jean Dominique de la Rochefoucauld and script supervisor Michelle Podroznik
- Video interview with Renzo Rossellini
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by critic Colin McCabe

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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[zedz]

The Rossellini run begins? I assume this means we won't be getting the Rossellini Eclipses the same month.

EDIT: I'm very happy to be wrong (again)!

Is that Englishing of the title standard in the US? It sounds awfully clunky to my ears - I've always heard of it as "La prise de pouvoir. . ."

[domino harvey]

That's a great run of special features for a lower tier title, though I do hope they fix the spelling error in MacCabe's name.

[swo17]

I believe the standard English title is The Rise to Power of Louis XIV, or just The Rise of Louis XIV.

Though personally, I prefer Louis XIV: Power Takin'.

[Narshty]

Derek Malcolm's article on the film from his Century of Film selection a few years back.

That $29.95 disc has more features than Le Plaisir.

[kaujot]

I much prefer The Taking... to The Rise of.... It sounds more metal.

[Person]

Sounds like a highly interesting film. I'll drink some Chambord liqueur whilst watching this one.

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

Great news even if the (American) title is somewhat of an inelegant mouthful!

I saw this lovely film in a rose coloured tint at the NFT London a few months ago. There was a very illuminating (technical) introductory talk which ended by stating that Martin Scorsese loved this film and that it was an influence on Goodfellas. (Unspoken: therefore it must be good.)

What determines if a title is given the Blu Ray treatment or not?

[HerrSchreck]

What determines if a title is given the Blu Ray treatment or not?

The answers given by the temperamental planchette on an H-Douija Board.

Okay that wasnt even funny.

[jbeall]

Oh hell yes!!!! I've been waiting for a decent release of this one ever since I got interested in cinema. I first saw a terrible VHS version--taped off a weak tv signal, so it was in black and white--of this back in 1995 and have wanted to see a quality print ever since.

It woulda been a little more politically timely sometime during the Bush years, but the way Louis's taking of power (and yes, that's the accurate translation) and consolidating it entails intensifying a trend toward decadence, it's hard not to see a revolution somewhere off in the future. I've gotta save some Xmas money for this purchase.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I love French history so I'm sold on this one! Does anyone know how many copies this can expect to move? I always got the impression that the last Rosselini released hardly made a financial splash.

[jbeall]

I dunno, but I recall from older versions of the random speculation thread that somebody's mother was going to get punched over and over until Criterion released this film, so I'd guess it'll at least sell well among forum members.

[zedz]

I dunno, but I recall from older versions of the random speculation thread that somebody's mother was going to get punched over and over until Criterion released this film, so I'd guess it'll at least sell well among forum members.

I know that guy's mother will be buying multiple copies.

Louis XIV is probably the 'superstar' among Rossellini's late biographical films, but that's definitely extremely relative. Its critical profile has sunk considerably over the last twenty years, but the same could be said for most of Rossellini's work (possibly excluding the Ingrids).

It looks like Criterion might be using its niche influence to attempt / engineer some sort of critical rival, which is heartening. It's certainly bold of them to lead off with these titles rather than the name recognition of the War Trilogy or the star power of the Ingrid films.

[Cronenfly]

Criterion's site doesn't indicate that this is an HD transfer; does anyone know what kind of elements are out there for this film (and by extension the other Rossellini TV titles as well)? I'm not expecting these titles to look pristine, obviously, but I'm still interested as to roughly what kind of state they'll be in.

[peerpee]

MK2 put this out in France. It looked pretty darn fantastic. Can't imagine the Criterion being anything less.

[Perkins Cobb]

In terms of elements, I saw a pristine unsubtitled 35mm print at MoMA about 8 years ago. (Although at that time their prototype version of soft-titling had the English subs on a red-light-bulb scoreboard mounted below the screen, which was so unreadable that I bailed ... so I'm looking forward to the DVD.)

[colinr0380]

It woulda been a little more politically timely sometime during the Bush years, but the way Louis's taking of power (and yes, that's the accurate translation) and consolidating it entails intensifying a trend toward decadence, it's hard not to see a revolution somewhere off in the future.

Perhaps if Nick is asking for alternative translations for a future MoC release of the film could I put forward The Prising of Power by Louis XIV?

Louis XIV is probably the 'superstar' among Rossellini's late biographical films, but that's definitely extremely relative. Its critical profile has sunk considerably over the last twenty years, but the same could be said for most of Rossellini's work (possibly excluding the Ingrids).

It looks like Criterion might be using its niche influence to attempt / engineer some sort of critical rival, which is heartening. It's certainly bold of them to lead off with these titles rather than the name recognition of the War Trilogy or the star power of the Ingrid films.

Not to mention that anyone whose interest in Blaise Pascal was raised by My Night At Maud's will probably be curious to see the Rossellini film on him - I know I am!

[zedz]

Not to mention that anyone whose interest in Blaise Pascal was raised by My Night At Maud's will probably be curious to see the Rossellini film on him - I know I am!

I also think we film geeks tend to underestimate the non-film-geek audience for many Criterion products. I never understood the WTF?s over the Antonio Gaudi release, for instance. I bet the ratio of Amazon searches for "Antonio Gaudi" is ten times greater than those for "Teshigahara" (or "Antonioni", for that matter), and I'm sure that there will be a similar situation with "Louis XIV" vs. "Roberto Rossellini", with the same going for "Pascal" or "Medici". (Though I concede that people looking for those search terms are less likely to go for these films than Gaudi fans would be to go for a gorgeous documentary).

[ellipsis7]

Martin Scorsese has said LE PRISE DE POUVOIR DE LOUIS XIV was a major influence on his GOODFELLAS... ( in his intro piece to 'Roberto Rossellini - Magician of the Real', BFI, 2000)....

[MichaelB]

I also think we film geeks tend to underestimate the non-film-geek audience for many Criterion products. I never understood the WTF?s over the Antonio Gaudi release, for instance. I bet the ratio of Amazon searches for "Antonio Gaudi" is ten times greater than those for "Teshigahara" (or "Antonioni", for that matter), and I'm sure that there will be a similar situation with "Louis XIV" vs. "Roberto Rossellini", with the same going for "Pascal" or "Medici".

A case in point: the BFI's British Transport Films series is currently on its eighth double-disc set, despite barely registering on film geeks' radar.

I don't know how much bigger the train-geek audience is than the film-geek audience, but I think the ratio is quite substantial!

[Tom Hagen]

Martin Scorsese has said LE PRISE DE POUVOIR DE LOUIS XIV was a major influence on his GOODFELLAS... ( in his intro piece to 'Roberto Rossellini - Magician of the Real', BFI, 2000)....

My interest in this release just went from high to extremely high. I am especially looking forward to the virtuouso final act where Rossellini shows the Sun King descending into cocaine-induced paranoia scored by the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, and Cream.

[ellipsis7]

Reminds me of the other Louis - Louis XVI -in Versailles preoccupied with tomatoes and toothbrushes, while Paris burned and France revolts outside, as portrayed in Renoir's LA MARSEILLAISE...

I have LE PRISE DE POUVOIR DE LOUIS XIV in a poor VHS recording from the BBC - it is simply sublime, in even that state, and I'm really looking forward to this release along with the History Films... It really is quite something...

[Max von Mayerling]

I'm very excited about this release - and the history films. And I imagine with the marketplace being what it is, we're probably lucky to be getting these kind of releases at all, much less with the extras on this disc. But some part of me wishes that the market were different & we were getting extras that provided some information about the subjects, particularly Louis XVI and the Age of the Medici.

Like the interview with Millicent Marcus on the Leopard. That was excellent.

I guess I'll just have to get off my ass and do some of my own historical research.

[Dr Amicus]

Further on the title, I remember somebody calling it The Seizure of Power by Louis XIV - but I can't remember who. It might have been my course tutor at uni, but it may well have been Peter Brunette in his book on Rossellini. Unfortunately I don't have my copy easily available - can anyone confirm either way?

[ellipsis7]

Out of office - have Brunette there & will check...

MOMA billing from 2006 centenary retro...

La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (The Rise of Louis XIV). 1966. France. Screenplay by Philippe Erlanger, Jean Grault, Rossellini, Dominique de La Rochefoucauld. With Jean-Marie Patte. This is the most acclaimed and extensively released of Rossellini’s “didactic” films, and one of cinema’s great political films. A timorous young man, the Sun King (Louis XIV), learns how to wield his power. “Louis uses the superficiality, coquetry, and vanity of the people, nothing else” (Rossellini). In French, English subtitles. New 35mm print. 98 min.