Screening of Jeanne du Barry followed by a conference entitled "Versailles, the absolute castle"
Historical drama by Maïwenn, starring Maïwenn, Johnny Depp, and Benjamin Lavernhe. 1 hour 57 minutes. France, Great Britain.
Jeanne Vaubernier, a commoner eager to climb the social ladder, uses her charms to escape her circumstances. Her lover, Count Du Barry, who has become wealthy thanks to Jeanne's lucrative affairs, wishes to present her to the King. He arranges the meeting through the influential Duke of Richelieu. It exceeds his expectations: between Louis XV and Jeanne, it is love at first sight… With the courtesan, the King rediscovers his zest for life – so much so that he can no longer live without her and decides to make her his official mistress. Scandal: no one wants a street urchin at Court… Lecture: “Versailles, the Absolute Palace” by Joël Cornette, historian and specialist in France under the Ancien Régime. Followed by a screening.
The Palace of Versailles presents itself to us as an extraordinary theater of excess, deserted by its painted actors and eager spectators, the backdrop of stone, brick, and marble for the grand spectacle of the absolute monarchy: the town of Versailles as the auditorium, the palace as the stage. Against all advice, Louis XIV made it "his" home, which he loved "with an immoderate passion," according to the Marquis de Sourches. Like the Memoirs the king wrote for his son, Versailles is simultaneously a "mirror of the Prince" and a visual illustration of the "mysteries of the State," concealing a hidden meaning that reveals itself in the stone, in the image, even in the topography of the place and the gradation of materials: earth, stone, marble, gold, as one approaches the inner sanctum, the Sun King's bedchamber, on the first floor, in the heart of the palace. This lecture will be devoted to an "interpretation" of this "absolute palace." A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, a qualified history teacher, and professor emeritus at Paris 8 University-Vincennes, Joël Cornette is the author of numerous works on France under the Ancien Régime and edited the 13 volumes of the History of France series for Belin publishers. He also published Affirmation of the Absolute State 1492-1652 with Hachette. He received the Grand Prize for History from the French Academy for his entire body of work.
Prices: €5.50 with the Unipop subscription card (annual card €15)
Without a subscription card: regular prices + €2.50
Jeanne Vaubernier, a commoner eager to climb the social ladder, uses her charms to escape her circumstances. Her lover, Count Du Barry, who has become wealthy thanks to Jeanne's lucrative affairs, wishes to present her to the King. He arranges the meeting through the influential Duke of Richelieu. It exceeds his expectations: between Louis XV and Jeanne, it is love at first sight… With the courtesan, the King rediscovers his zest for life – so much so that he can no longer live without her and decides to make her his official mistress. Scandal: no one wants a street urchin at Court… Lecture: “Versailles, the Absolute Palace” by Joël Cornette, historian and specialist in France under the Ancien Régime. Followed by a screening.
The Palace of Versailles presents itself to us as an extraordinary theater of excess, deserted by its painted actors and eager spectators, the backdrop of stone, brick, and marble for the grand spectacle of the absolute monarchy: the town of Versailles as the auditorium, the palace as the stage. Against all advice, Louis XIV made it "his" home, which he loved "with an immoderate passion," according to the Marquis de Sourches. Like the Memoirs the king wrote for his son, Versailles is simultaneously a "mirror of the Prince" and a visual illustration of the "mysteries of the State," concealing a hidden meaning that reveals itself in the stone, in the image, even in the topography of the place and the gradation of materials: earth, stone, marble, gold, as one approaches the inner sanctum, the Sun King's bedchamber, on the first floor, in the heart of the palace. This lecture will be devoted to an "interpretation" of this "absolute palace." A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, a qualified history teacher, and professor emeritus at Paris 8 University-Vincennes, Joël Cornette is the author of numerous works on France under the Ancien Régime and edited the 13 volumes of the History of France series for Belin publishers. He also published Affirmation of the Absolute State 1492-1652 with Hachette. He received the Grand Prize for History from the French Academy for his entire body of work.
Prices: €5.50 with the Unipop subscription card (annual card €15)
Without a subscription card: regular prices + €2.50
