Behind the grandeur of the reign of Louis 1Vth which gave us the operas of Lully and the plays of Racine there were evidently dark and sinister forces at work. The notorious scandal known as 'L'Affaire des Poisons' of 1677-1682 which involved murder, witchcraft and black magic, threatened to engulf even the inner circles of the Royal court, resulting in the execution of 37 and the exile/imprisonment of hundreds. Henri Decoin's film has condensed the timeframes here and focuses on one particular episode.
It concerns the alleged poisoning by the King's maitresse-en-titre Madame de Montespan of the younger Madame de Fontanges who has supplanted her in the King's favours. She accomplishes this with the help of a witch named Catherine Monvoisin who takes part in black masses involving infant sacrifice.
As an historical document it is full of holes. Many of the confessions which form the basis of this film were obtained under torture and cannot be relied upon. Montespan was never directly implicated although the scandal itself did mark the beginning of the end of her influence over the King. Madame de Fontanges is now thought to have died of 'natural causes'.
This does not make the film any less entertaining of course. Thanks to the dark-hued cinematography of Pierre Montazel and the menacing score by Rene Cloerec the whole film is suffused with the presence of evil and its gruesome subject matter borders on 'horror'.
Decoin's former wife Danielle Darrieux is suitably imperious as Montespan but also brings a touch of vulnerability to the role and Paul Meurisse is riveting as a satanic priest. The film really belongs to Viviane Romance as Monvoisin. It puts one in mind of her earlier performance as the villainous Jeanne de la Motte in L'Herbier's film about another Royal scandal, 'L'Affaire du collier de la Reine' which was made during Mlle Romance's best decade, the 1940's. Mention must also be made of Anne Vernon who is excellent as an unfortunate lady-in-waiting falsely accused of being an accomplice to murder. A weak link however is the reduction of Louis himself to nothing more than a couple of brief, non-speaking appearances by an unknown actor utterly devoid of the majesty depicted in contemporary portraits of the 'Sun King'.
French film makers have traditionally excelled in period costume drama and this one, although slowly paced, holds ones attention. It certainly does not dispel the age-old belief that 'poison is the woman's weapon'!
Review of The Case of Poisons
