Angélique, Marquise des Anges

Angélique, Marquise des Anges is a 1964 historical romance film directed by Bernard Borderie and starring Michèle Mercier, Robert Hossein and Jean Rochefort. It is based on the 1956 novel of the same name by Anne and Serge Golon.[1] It was made as a co-production between France, Italy and West Germany

Angélique, Marquise des Anges
Angélique Marquise des Anges
Directed byBernard Borderie
Produced byFrancis Cosne
Raymond Borderie
Written byClaude Brulé
Bernard Borderie
Francis Cosne
Daniel Boulanger
Based onAngélique, the Marquise of the Angels
by Anne Golon and Serge Golon
StarringMichèle Mercier
Robert Hossein
Jean Rochefort
Claude Giraud
Music byMichel Magne
CinematographyHenri Persin
Edited byChristian Gaudin
Production
company
Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique
Franco London Films
Gloria Film
Distributed byS.N. Prodi
Gloria Film
Butcher's Film Distributors
Release date
  • 8 December 1964 (1964-12-08)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryFrance
Italy
West Germany
LanguageFrench
Box office60 million tickets

It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome and the Billancourt Studios in Paris and on location at the Château de Tanlay and Fontenay Abbey. The film's sets were designed by the art director René Moulaert.

The film was a major hit across Continental Europe, and in 1967 was distributed in Britain. It was followed by four sequels starting with Marvelous Angelique.[2]

Synopsis

In mid-17th century France, young Louis XIV is struggling for his throne, beggars and thieves haunt Paris and brigands roam the countryside. Fifth child of an impoverished country nobleman, Angélique de Sancé de Monteloup grows up in the Poitou marshlands. Her logical destiny would be to marry a poor country nobleman, have children and spend her life fighting for a meagre subsistence. Destiny has other plans in store for her. At 17, on returning from her education in a convent, she finds herself betrothed to the rich count Jeoffrey de Peyrac (Jeoffrey Comte de Peyrac de Morens, Lord of Toulouse), 12 years her senior, lame, scarred and reputed to be a wizard. For the sake of her family, Angélique reluctantly agrees to the match but refuses the advances of her husband. Peyrac respects her decision and does not pursue his claim to conjugal rights, wishing rather to seduce than use force.

With the passing of months, Angélique discovers the talents and virtues of her remarkable husband: scientist, musician, philosopher; and to her surprise falls passionately in love with him. But Jeoffrey's unusual way of life is threatened by the ambitions of the Archbishop of Toulouse, and soon arouses the jealousy of the young king himself, Louis XIV. Joffrey is arrested and charged with sorcery. Angélique will single-handedly take on the might of the royal court and, survive murder and poison attempts on herself in a supreme effort to save Joffrey from the stake, to no avail. Instinctively, her whole being intent on revenge and her determination to survive, Angélique, alone and desperate, plunges into the darkness of the Paris underworld.

Cast
Voice dubbing
  • Jacques Thébault as French voice of Giuliano Gemma
  • Rosy Varte as French voice of Rosalba Neri
  • Michèle Montel as French voice of Renate Ewert

Box office

In France, the film sold 2,958,684 tickets, making it one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1964 in the country.[3] It was also the second top-grossing film of the year in West Germany with 5.5 million ticket sales, and the year's fifth top-grossing film in Italy with 5.442 million ticket sales.[4] In Spain, the film sold 211,941 tickets upon release in 1964.[5]

In the Soviet Union, the film sold 44.1 million tickets upon release in 1969.[5] It was the year's second highest-grossing foreign film in the Soviet Union (after the Indian Bollywood film Mamta), and the 31st highest-grossing foreign film ever in the country.[6] In Poland, it sold more than 2 million tickets, making it one of the thirteen highest-grossing foreign films in the country as of 1968.[7] This adds up to a total of more than 60,212,625 tickets sold worldwide.

Angélique films

References
  1. "Angélique". unifrance.org. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  2. Bergfelder p.261
  3. "Angélique, Marquise des Anges (1964) — France". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. "Angélique, Marquise des Anges (1964) — Europe". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  5. "Анжелика, маркиза ангелов (1964) — дата выхода в России и других странах" [Angélique, Marquise des Anges (1964) — Release Dates in Russia and Other Countries]. KinoPoisk (in Russian). Yandex. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  6. Kudryavtsev, Sergey (4 July 2006). "Зарубежные фильмы в советском кинопрокате". LiveJournal (in Russian).
  7. Ford, Charles; Hammond, Robert (2015). Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History. McFarland & Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4766-0803-7.

Bibliography
  • Bergfelder, Tim. International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s. Berghahn Books, 2005.
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