Ridicule (1996) on Netflix
Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy, a penniless engineer, wants to drain the marshes of the Dombes, where peasants fall ill. At Versailles he must master wit to win King Louis XVI's backing.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.3/108,593 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Baron Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy is a young, penniless aristocrat and engineer with a plan to drain the marshes of the Dombes, where disease afflicts the peasants. He rides to Versailles to ask King Louis XVI to pay for the work. Robbers beat him and take everything he carries, and the Marquis de Bellegarde, a physician, shelters him and teaches him about wit and the ways of the court. Madame de Blayac, a rich widow, is supposed to be his sponsor there. Ponceludon also meets Bellegarde's daughter Mathilde, who has agreed to marry a wealthy old man to clear her father's debts and pay for her science experiments.
Cast
- Bruno Zanardias Paul
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ridicule (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film is intended to be close to historians' descriptions of the Ancien Régime court, but it evokes the ways of Louis XIV's court more than those of Louis XVI.
- Scenes outside the Marquis de Bellegarde's residence were shot at the Villiers-le-Bâcle château, which was owned by comedian Yves Lecoq.
