Que la Fête Commence

Tavernier's second film, made during the period when the rewriting of history on film was the key issue in French cinema, never released in Britain but a hit in the US under the ironic title Let Joy Reign Supreme. Spectacular as French costume movies go, but never extravagant for its own sake, this is a subtle exploration of power politics in the court of the Regent Philippe of Orleans in 1719, taking in the revolutionary cause of Breton secessionists and the commerce in sex that provokes intrigues. Noiret is compelling as the Regent, and Pascal fleshes out the peasant girl from whose perspective the narrative is argued. Here 'Winstanley' meets 'Casanova', and it works.