RIDICULE
A film review by Froilan Vispo
Copyright 1997 Froilan Vispo
***1/2 out of ****
RIDICULE does very admirably with such a dangerous premise: being a film about a world where wit is the most-prized talent, and the absence of a skillful comeuppance condemns one to the outskirts. Indeed, the film opens with a man who has returned to France to exact revenge upon the now-helpless wit whose one wisecrack had caused him to flee, and although his revenge is wordless, it is certainly a base one and a fitting beginning to this film, underscoring the importance of the game to its players and the lengths they will go to in order to have the final word.
The setting is the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the air strains with the expectation of daggers with each utterance. Here, adept repartee, or lack thereof, passed on through the ranks of the courtiers, fashions one's reputation, so regret is expressed for days on end for those witty remarks thought of too late and notes are made of witticisms which are then classified into categories for later reference and practice.
Baron Ponceludon de Malavoy (Charles Berling) rides off to this royal court with his sincere hope that his king will hear him and dispense funds for the baron's project to drain the swamps of his homeland in the outskirts and hence save his subjects from disease. Ponceludon is oblivious to the rules, however, and finds himself under the care of the Marquis de Bellegarde (Jean Rochefort) who mistakes his sincerity for pointed humour, and is soon advising the baron on how he may devise his rise through the ranks. The upwardly-mobile Ponceludon soon finds himself between the woman he loves, Mathilde (Judith Godreche), the marquis's daughter, who, like the baron, sacrifices something of herself when she chooses to marry for money to finance her studies in underwater diving, and the woman who will most advance his own cause, the Madame de Blayac (Fanny Ardant), who is well-connected to the king and well-rehearsed in the machinations of the court.
RIDICULE's script is certainly the first among its many strengths: well-honed, intelligent and engaging - comeuppances come aplenty and unexpectedly. The character's aspirations and successes become our own, we become glad that the failures of others are not ours, and with their stumbles of those who have gained our sympathy recognize the cruelty of the game.
The game is a double-edged sword, however. When deaf and mute students learning sign language are presented to an audience of courtiers, the latter's initial agreement to ridicule the students' gestures and inability to use words becomes an awareness of their own exclusion from the richness of signs and from this exclusive community, and the revelation of the transparency of words. In this world where words are mightier than swords and many are willing to dance along the sharp edge of the blade, this recognition of the emptiness of what they value is sharp rebuke indeed. Too few films dare to assume an intelligent audience, and RIDICULE is one of these too infrequent pleasures.
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