Movie

The Taking of Power by Louis XIV

1966 · 95 min

A slow, precise, almost documentary-like immersion into the mechanics of power, watching a young king quietly outmaneuver everyone.

Overview: Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum in which the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Superintendant who has been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power and overplays his hand by offering a bribe to Louis' mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed.
How it feels: Earnest, tense, satirical and melancholic. Slow-burning and demanding.
About: Power, politics, betrayal, class
Content: Mild violence, sexual content and language. No gore.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: earneststrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 1 of 3
melancholicstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: power
politics
betrayal
class
ambition
Places: single country house
Era: period
Audience: adult
Form: true story
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild