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Paris,1644: 22–year–old Jean–Baptiste Poquelin is not yet the writer recognised by history as Moliere, the father and master of comic satire, author of The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, and a dramatist to rank alongside Shakespeare and Sophocles. Far from it. He is, in fact, a failed actor. Awash in debt and pursued by bailiffs, Jean–Baptiste persists in staging tragedies in which he acts (badly) until one day he disappears, having been imprisoned by his impatient creditors. Moliere has actually been released from gaol by Monsieur Jourdain a wealthy bourgeois from the provinces who has settled the young actor‘s debts in exchange for lessons in stagecraft. Jourdain is hungry for recognition and infatuated with the lovely but poisonous Celimene, whose salon is frequented by ardent suitors and great wits. But the affair must remain secret, kept at all costs from Jourdain‘s enchanting wife Elmire with whom Moliere himself falls headlong in love. Unfortunately for Moliere, to justify his presence Jourdain has introduced him as ‘Monsieur Tartuffe‘, an austere private tutor, and Elmire has nothing but contempt for this self–important interloper.

With: Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Valette, Edouard Baer.

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