Sex, war, power and land use in ‘Versailles’
“The Borgias” was a lusty series about poison and duplicity; “The Tudors” was a lusty series about sex, lies and executions. “Versailles” is a series about real estate.
The 10-episode series, said to be the most expensive series produced in France, premieres on the Ovation channel with back-to-back episodes on Saturday, Oct. 1, and uses the expansion of the royal hunting lodge at Versailles into the grandest palace in Europe as a backdrop for Louis XIV coming into his own as king of France.
Louis (George Blagden) is a young man as the series begins, but he’s already been king since he was 4 and is driven by the fact that he barely knew his father. At this point in what would be a very long reign, he is married to Queen Marie Thérèse of Spain (Elisa Lasowski), but theirs is hardly a love match. For Louis, the queen is merely a vessel for ensuring the Bourbon lineage. Meanwhile, he dallies daily with other women, but mostly his sister-in-law, Henriette (Noémie Schmidt). His brother Philippe (Alexander Vlahos) doesn’t mind all that much because he is generally occupied with his lover Chevalier (Evan Williams) or any other young, willing male in the court.
Louis is determined to make Versailles the primary royal palace, but many in the court, including the queen, are against the idea. They miss the sophistication and gaiety of Paris, so much so that the expansion of the hunting lodge sparks more serious dissension among some members of the court who begin plotting against Louis.
The first four episodes of the series are rather talky, although heaven knows there are moments of eye-opening action of the carnal variety.
As for other varieties of action, when Louis sends Philippe to lead the French troops in battle, we don’t even see the battle — just the aftermath, with a bunch of extras playing dead on the battlefield.
But the talk, at least, is revealing and sophisticated, not to mention often filled with intrigue. As Louis and his advisers plot strategy against the Spanish and other factions, he is evolving as a character, finding his footing as king. The more he realizes how few people he can really trust, the stronger and at times more merciless he becomes. When the queen betrays him, he takes his time, using her infidelity as a way to manipulate a strategic alliance with the new king of an African nation. After sending Philippe into battle, he agonizes between his personal concern about Philippe’s safety and his duty as the king of France. But is there also perhaps another point of conflict in the king’s mind? If Philippe were to be killed, he could make Henriette entirely his, if he could figure out a way to dump the Spanish queen.
The series was created by Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft, and in spite of the fact they rely heavily on talk and even on talk about real estate, they have created powerful and compelling characters to hold our attention. There are moments — blessedly few, thank goodness — when “Versailles” seems to want to make a pitch for French culture and tourism. We see that in particular when Louis outlines his plans for Versailles, and at an even more awkward moment when he orates about a coming revolution. For a moment, we think he’s somehow looking ahead more than a century to the French Revolution of 1789.
Mais non. He’s talking a far more important revolution: the dawn of a future age when France will be the world’s foremost center of fashion.
Well, in the meantime, we can be more than content with the jaw-dropping costume designs by Madeline Fontaine in the series produced by France, England and Canada.
The performances are quite good, especially Blagden, Lasowski, Vlahos, Stuart Bowman as the king’s valet and most trusted friend, Tygh Runyan as the king’s chief of police, and Amira Casar as the conniving Beatrice, who shamelessly pushes her daughter Sophie (Maddison Jaizani) under the king’s nose at every opportunity, in hope that she’ll soon be under him in more socially advantageous ways.
Well, what else can Bourbon courtiers do, stuck out in the middle of nowhere, years before the invention of the Metro and the RER?
In the end, even in the 17th century, it’s all about location, location, location.