Les Rois maudits

The 1972 version of Les Rois Maudits still stands up among the best TV series ever produced. In France and Canada, it is mentioned in the same breath as the Prisoner!

The adaptation is remarkable. The cast is absolutely perfect. The producers picked theater actors and have chosen to simplify the sets as much as possible in order to bring even more punch to an already powerful text.

It's a shame the DVD box set doesn't come with English subtitles. It would certainly help English-speaking viewers understand the whole story, even though people can get a clear idea as to what is going on.

Les Rois Maudits is a must in any DVD collection!

Ok, ok, I know its a bit old, it looks more like theater than a real movie but, man, what an incredible performance from the actors ! I've rarely seen such acting. And the story was so great, I mean, I've read the book 5 times (and its about 1620 pages long) and the TV series are as great as the book. A must

(Please forgive my spelling mistakes, English is only my second language ;)

It is a shame that this TV series is only available in French . I hope someone or some organisation produce a version with English subtitles in the near future.

I recall seeing a lot of this series on BBC 2 (with their own subtitles I presume) when it was shown here in Britain. In fact I must have only seen it once and yet there is much I recall from just one viewing. The opening tableaux scene where all the actors are shown standing on steps so that it is like a 'recall' about what happened in the previous episode. Also I recall my interest watching the 'English' segment set in the court of Edward II and his murder in a dungeon (I was only in my mid teens then), the strangulation of the French Queen and the rich (and rude) language used by Robert of Artois ! I admit I haven't read the books but this series is on par with 'I Claudius' in quality !

Oh, i should have seen this colossal piece of classic theater style drama much sooner. This 616 minutes felt like 2 hours and i was ready for another 616, it really took me by surprise because it looked dated and boring at first.

There's some really original scenes like those family portraits in which nobody moves for several minutes while the narrator do his job. The sets and costumes are well made and the acting level is very high. If you are a "long take fan" like me you will be pleased, really amazing actors, great cast and well directed. Jean Piat (who plays Robert d'Artois) steals the show and he's by far my favorite character in this series, what an artist!!

I've learned a lot of historical facts with this, even if some scenes are obviously fictionalized a bit.

The plot is quite complex and i was lost from time to time because there is a lot of characters in this historical saga and they are almost all important. The music is discrete and takes more and more place as the series goes on. Don't expect too much physical action though, if you don't like long dialogues in a theatrical-flamboyant style you may have some boredom problems along the way; even if there's always a spectrum of brutality and sadism around. But if you like to watch good actors performing as i do, there's an "all you can eat" buffet waiting for you on Youtube, just saying...

Every one agrees this is one of the best TV series ever made, on a par with "I, Claudius". Furthermore, this is the version purists should prefer over the recent blood-and-guts remake, which preserves most of its dialogs but serves it à la Quentin Tarantino with plenty of gore, violence and CGI. What made the original interesting is that they skimped on the sets (which were mostly painted backgrounds, projection screens, simplified architectural elements and other theatrical tricks) in order to put the emphasis on the spoken word, the acting, the characters, the costumes (which were part of this character) and the story, all of which is lost in the remake. The original version is available from Québec's imavision.com in a 3-DVD boxset - unfortunately without subtitles of any kind. But, still, it's the kind of series that makes the learning of the French language fun.