Le libertin

Depending on your taste, this French movie could be considered either as a raunchy French comedy with arty pretensions or as Gallic-flavored Merchant-Ivory type fare with a refreshing lack of them. The story involves real-life 18th century French "philosoph", Denis Diderot, who is holed up with a bunch of his equally jaded family and friends on the luxurious estate of his friend Baron D'Holbach where he is working on a scandalous encyclopedia propounding his libertine philosophy. When D'Holbach's brother (Michael Serrault), a prominent cardinal, shows up unexpectedly, D'Holbach's wife (Josiane Basko) and Diderot's other various friends try to distract the clergyman from what is really going on at the estate.

This is set in the same era as "Dangerous Liasons" (and also the era of the Marquis de Sade), but for better or worse it is much less serious than the various films based on that literary work. It isn't quite the unbridled sex romp you'd expect for a French film set in this free and loose era. Most of the ribaldry involves Diderot, under the somewhat reproachful gaze of his wife, posing nude for an attractive female painter (Fanny Arnadt). There is some casual adultery mostly involving a promiscuous female party guest (Arielle Dombasle). The sexiest scenes though are undoubtedly the ones where Diderot's daughter (Vahina Giocante) and D'Holbach's daughter (a pre-"Amelie" Audrey Tatou) take a hot tub soak together, or the scene where Diderot's relatively prudish wife (Francoise Lepine) receives a "happy ending" from a studly African masseuse. But this movie is much more raunchy comedy than sex. It's kind of comedy of manners but with no manners.

Vincent Perez is quite good as Diderot, as is Josiane Balasko as the Madame D'Holbach, and Michael Serrault as the cardinal. Francoise Lepine is also pretty good, even though she largely disappeared after this movie. And Fanny Arnadt is ALWAYS worth watching. Tatou and Gicante, meanwhile, have little to do but peel off for their hot tub scene, but actually that is PLENTY. This movie is pretty lightweight, but it's also a pretty fun watch.

This is a wonderful film. It's a shame it is so difficult to see here in the US. I had to go to great lengths to first obtain a PAL copy from France that has no English subtitles, download a subtitle file online, and then use 3 different programs to rip the DVD, process the video and add subtitles, and then burn it to a DVD I could watch on my TV. But it was worth it. It is fun satire on morals and religion that reminded me a bit of the even more wonderful SIRENS. Given the subject matter and frequent full-frontal nudity both male and female, it is no wonder it has had little or no exposure (no pun intended) here in the puritanical USA. I have to admit, I was mostly interested in this film because of Audrey Tautou. Her screen time is very short, but for about half that time she is nude...and a glorious sight it is too. But I'm glad it turned out to have so much more going for it. Highly recommended... if you can understand French or have the ability to make your own subtitles.

What a great film. Vincent Perez was fabulous as Diderot. I really liked this movie and would recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Vincent Perez and who also likes good French films. I have watched Perez's performance in other films and find he is such a great actor. This film had great acting, great photography, witty dialogue and good casting. The costuming was also really good, with an accurate portrayal of what society would wear in that time period. I really don't want to give away any of the story line so I will stop now, but to all fans of Vincent Perez. Go and see this film. Another note, I also really liked the music used in the film, it portrayed the wittiness of the dialogue.

A must for those who are not fully foolish to be Hollywoodish!

The reason to pass my comments on this nice French movie was the vote on 05/18/00 equal to 4,7... Really, some IMDb customers miss great atmosphere of the comedy and superb play of the cast.

I definitely want everybody, who never saw charming Vincent Perez, to catch him and the rest in this artificial picture from the life of 18th century philosopher Denis Diderot. Never heard that he was so romantic to walk nude during the creation of his encyclopaedia, never imagined that this didactic tutor (Diderot at the age of 60s was a pen friend of Russian tzarina Ekaterina the Great, when she was 30) was so light. Seems that duet of Perez and Fanny Ardant has a personal sound (just to recall that Vincent dated Jacqueline Bisset).

Movie was shown at Russian satellite channel (NTV+) before it obtained great success in cinemas. Really Russians have better taste than 24 voters rated it from 1 to 6. Please, wipe such bad results and watch Le Libertin again!

Played as farce, this quasi-realist setup of Diderot and friends running a semi-secret printing press for his "scandalous" encyclopaedia is great fun.

One could really see this as a french equivalent to a "Carry On.." film, as it relies more on the ensemble casting than on one major player and, for the most part, everyone does their bit. Absurdist fans will love the "pig organ" and the general puncturing of pomposity all round.

Perez himself seems admirably unfazed by long sequences of full-frontal nudity and is supported more briefly by some of the female cast (notably Vahina Giocante) although it's a long way from being a "sex comedy" - just rude.