The highlight of this episode is the extravagant fête, rivaled in magnificence by only a couple in French history ;the king was entertained at Fouquet's castle with such luxury that the king was in a sullen mood the whole night : a gargantuan buffet ,a play by Molière ('Les Fâcheux" )produced for the first time for the event (the playwright begs the royal pardon for the lack of rehearsals ).The king was so infuriated by his host's wealth that he refused to spend the night in the palace ;on the other hand , Fouquet appears as a naive bon vivant, still thinking he impressed the monarch and that he was leaving to comfort the pregnant queen ,alone in Fontainebleau.
This fête was certainly the straw that broke the camel's back ;but actually,
, Fouquet's disgrace was secretly decided upon on 4 May, more than three months before .. The splendour of the entertainment sealed Fouquet's fate,in spite of his enormous popularity ,not only among the artists ,many of whom were his protégés (La Fontaine ,whose "La Grenouille Qui Veut Se Faire Aussi Grosse Que Le Boeuf "(= the Frog who wished to be as big as the Ox")is ominously heard at the end of the party ).
During the fête,in parallel, Colbert and his men are shown ,dissecting the accounts books; one thing that worried Colbert is almost passed over in silence :Belle-Isle and Fouquet's fortified towns.
What's true,on the other hand , is that Fouquet could only be judged by his peers ,the members of the parliament;so they urged him to sell his office so he could help the king with the money ...and be judged as a simple subject ;it was a travesty of a trial ,the document found behind a mirror( accurate historically)was obsolete and totally irrealist .
This second episode was well received, more appreciated by the users ,if we look at the ratings .it is sure easy to see why : Decoin let his Alexandre Dumas side flow ,which gives the episode a much more storylike side ; the part of Fouquet's (second) wife (Sara Giraudeau)was fleshed out and D'Artagnan appears in the flesh,complete with Gascon accent ;he did arrest the superintendent ;true to himself,he appears as a human musketeer , displaying sympathy for the prisoner's wife (the meeting on the farm might be fictional) ,and feeling sad when he left him in the gloomy Pignol fortress where the unfortunate bon vivant would spend the rest of his life.
Like the screenwriters love to have Elizabeth the First and Mary Stuart meet (it never occured), they felt compelled to make Colbert come to Pignol to visit his former enemy :"we could have been so good friends" says he ,in this invented scene ,from start to finish;Fouquet's poisoning is not taken seriously by most of the historians today too;this man called "Danger" (sic) had not motive anyway.On the other hand ,the wife's visit is credible, for the king had eased Fouquet's captivity.Even though the screenwriters briefly mention the alleged twin brother of the king,they spare us the iron mask .
In spite of historical innacuracies ,this is a very good MTV work;I wish we had more stuff like this!
During the fête,in parallel, Colbert and his men are shown ,dissecting the accounts books; one thing that worried Colbert is almost passed over in silence :Belle-Isle and Fouquet's fortified towns.
What's true,on the other hand , is that Fouquet could only be judged by his peers ,the members of the parliament;so they urged him to sell his office so he could help the king with the money ...and be judged as a simple subject ;it was a travesty of a trial ,the document found behind a mirror( accurate historically)was obsolete and totally irrealist .
This second episode was well received, more appreciated by the users ,if we look at the ratings .it is sure easy to see why : Decoin let his Alexandre Dumas side flow ,which gives the episode a much more storylike side ; the part of Fouquet's (second) wife (Sara Giraudeau)was fleshed out and D'Artagnan appears in the flesh,complete with Gascon accent ;he did arrest the superintendent ;true to himself,he appears as a human musketeer , displaying sympathy for the prisoner's wife (the meeting on the farm might be fictional) ,and feeling sad when he left him in the gloomy Pignol fortress where the unfortunate bon vivant would spend the rest of his life.
Like the screenwriters love to have Elizabeth the First and Mary Stuart meet (it never occured), they felt compelled to make Colbert come to Pignol to visit his former enemy :"we could have been so good friends" says he ,in this invented scene ,from start to finish;Fouquet's poisoning is not taken seriously by most of the historians today too;this man called "Danger" (sic) had not motive anyway.On the other hand ,the wife's visit is credible, for the king had eased Fouquet's captivity.Even though the screenwriters briefly mention the alleged twin brother of the king,they spare us the iron mask .
In spite of historical innacuracies ,this is a very good MTV work;I wish we had more stuff like this!