Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1966 • France
Starring Jean-Marie Patte, Raymond Jourdan
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.
Up Next in Directed by Roberto Rossellini
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Socrates
Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1971 • Italy
Roberto Rossellini may have made SOCRATES (1971) for television, but he didn't let the small screen's budget and production limitations -- drawing on the few presumed facts known about the philosopher, and with fine central performances by Jean Sylve...
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Blaise Pascal
Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1972 • Italy
In this evocative, atmospheric biography, Roberto Rossellini brings to life philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who, amid religious persecution and ignorance, believed in a harmony between God and science.
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THE AGE OF THE MEDICI: Episode 1
“The Exile of Cosimo”
Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1973 • ItalyRoberto Rossellini's three-part THE AGE OF THE MEDICI is like a Renaissance painting come to life: a portrait of fifteenth-century Florence, ruled by the Medici political dynasty. With a lovely score from composer Manuel de Sica...
