Angélique et le roy

"Angélique et le roy" is Anne et Serge Golon's peak:their novel successfully recreates the atmosphere of Louis the fourteenth 's court,with its intrigues,and its incredible "Etiquette".Their depictions are vivid and colorful.They have never blended so intimately Angelique's adventures with the historical events:and there 's a lot of 'em:war in Holland,the sumptuous feasts which celebrated victory,the rise of Madame de Montespan and the fall of Louise de La Vallière as favorites of the Sun King,the poisons affair,Henriette d'Angleterre's death,et al.Of course,there are some mistakes (the book was written in the fifties):Monsieur ,frère du roi (king's brother),was never the villain depicted by the Golon,and his wife's(Henriette) poisening was never proved(and the historians reckon it's unlikely).

What about the movie?It's an almost complete loss.The scenarists took what was the most spectacular-Angélique meets a Persian prince and is almost raped,she attends a black mass- and left the rest,all I mention above."Indomptable Angélique" and "angélique et le sultan" the two final episodes of the saga are,if possible,worse.

One should note,however,that only the third part of the novel was transferred to the screen.Philippe ,who plays a prominent part in the novel ,disappears in the prologue!

If only more people knew the novels...Alas!