Le Roi, l’Ecureuil, et la Couleuvre is a French historical drama in two parts which premiered in 2010.
The title refers to the three main characters:
** The King = Louis XIV
** The Squirrel = Nicolas Fouquet
** The Snake in the Grass = Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Fouquet and Colbert are high-ranking civil servants. Both work for Louis XIV. Both want to please the king and to win his favour.
This drama presents the long-running rivalry and the serious competition between the two important civil servants.
Here is some basic information about it:
** English title: The King, the Squirrel, and the Snake in the Grass
** Director: Laurent Heynemann
** Writers: Laurent Heynemann, Didier Decoin, Sarah Romano, and Laure Balzan
** Shown on French television in 2011
** Released on DVD in 2011
** Available on the website TV5 monde plus
** Language: French
** Subtitles: English and French
** Run time: 2 x 95 minutes = 190 minutes
The cast includes the following
The first group
** Laránt Deutsch as Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680) – his coat-of-arms shows a squirrel
** Thierry Frémont as Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) – his coat-of-arms shows a snake in the grass
** Davy Sardou as Louis XIV (1638-1715) – king of France 1643-1715
** Sara Giraudeau as Marie-Madeleine de Castille (1635-1716) – the second wife of Nicolas Fouquet (married 1651-1680)
** Laurent Natrella as Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan (1611-1673) – he is the captain of the king’s musketeers
The second group
** Jean-Pol Dubois as Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661) – First Minister of State to Louis XIV 1643-1661
** Gérard Moulévrier as Molière 1622-1673) - playwright
** Alban Casterman as Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695)
– a writer (supports Fouquet)
** Carole Richert as Marie de Rautin-Chantal, Madame
de Sévigné (1626-1696) (supports Fouquet)
** Philippe Uchan as Louis Le Vau (1612-1670) – an
architect who works for Fouquet
Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.
While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here.
Some details may have been added, altered or excluded for dramatic reasons or practical purposes. But the basic story is true.
Fouquet and Colbert are both involved in financial affairs. Both of them have their eye on the highest post (First Minister of State to the king) which has for many years been held by Cardinal Mazarin. Who is going to get the coveted post when Mazarin dies?
Besides hoping to please the king, Fouquet also has a personal hobby: he is interested in art and architecture. In 1641, he bought a small castle, Vaux-le-Vicomte, located ca. 50 km southeast of Paris.
He wants to renovate the original building and create a beautiful park next to the castle.
To be in charge of this ambitious and demanding task he finds and hires three experts:
** Louis Le Vau (1612-1670) – an architect
** Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) – a painter
** André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) – a landscape artist
Only one of these three men is seen in the drama. But the other two also play a significant role in the renovation of Vaux-le-Vicomte.
As the project progresses, Fouquet has an idea: maybe he can combine the two different lines of work: his work for the king and his plan to renovate his castle.
He wants to celebrate the completion of the renovation of his castle by holding a giant party and he wants to invite the king and the royal court to attend this party.
In this way, he believes, he can show himself as a loyal servant of the king.
The party is held on 17 August 1661, only five months after the death of Cardinal Mazarin. What happens?
** Dinner with fabulous food is served on plates made of silver and gold.
** A play by Moliere is performed for the first time.
** In the park next to the castle, the guests can witness an incredible explosion of fireworks.
The party makes a deep impression on the king.
But it is not a positive impression:
** He is jealous!
Nobody in France should have a castle which is more impressive than the king’s castle.
** He is offended!
It seems to him that Fouquet is trying to outshine the king!
** He is suspicious!
How can Fouquet afford to build such a castle and to organize such a lavish celebration? Perhaps Fouquet is stealing money from the state? Perhaps this is why he is so rich?
The purpose of the grand party is to entertain the king. Fouquet has organized the grand party, because he wants to show his deep devotion to the king.
But his plan does not work. It backfires. The party becomes the moment which seals his fate and causes his downfall.
Fouquet cannot know this. But one or two months before the party Colbert has managed to convince Louis that Fouquet is guilty of several serious crimes, first of all embezzlement.
When Louis arrives at Vaux-le-Vicomte, he has already made up his mind, but he goes to the party anyway. Just to see what the place is like and to see what is going to happen.
When the party is over, Louis and his entourage leave. The king declines the offer to stay overnight in the castle.
He still pretends to trust Fouquet, but one month later, the king decides it is time to act.
D’Artagnan, captain of the king’s musketeers, shows up at Fouquet’s door and tells him that he is under arrest. Fouquet is surprised. He does not understand what is happening.
He has been played: Colbert has won the king’s confidence and he has won the long-running competition between the two civil servants.
The arrest is followed by a trial which lasts almost three years. In 1664, Fouquet is found guilty in a court of law which has 22 judges.
The 22 judges were hand-picked by Colbert. In spite of this fact, some of them refuse to be used as a tool for Colbert and Louis.
The majority (13) vote for banishment, while a minority (9) vote for the death penalty.
At this point, the king decides to intervene and to alter the sentence chosen by the majority. He does not intervene in order to make it softer; he makes it harder!
Fouquet is sentenced to prison for the rest of his life and his property is confiscated. He is transferred to Pignerol prison in the French Alps. Today this place is a part of Italy, in the northwest corner of the country, and the name is Pinerolo.
Fouquet remains in this prison until the end of his life in 1680. Restrictions are severe. His wife is not allowed to write to him until 1672. She is only allowed to visit him once, in 1679, shortly before his death in 1680.
Louis decides that Fouquet must be punished. Once Fouquet has been arrested, and the trial begins, Louis wants to know the names of the experts who are responsible for the renovation of the castle and for the fabulous park created next to the castle.
He is told that three men were in charge of the project. Louis hires these three men and invites them to work for him. They are going to work for him at Versailles.
Louis is going to make sure that the king of France has the most impressive palace in the whole country, perhaps in all of Europe!
What about the historical accuracy of this drama?
While the basic story is true, there are some cases where historical accuracy has been violated.
Here are two examples:
# 1. The trial of Fouquet is held in written form. Fouquet, who is a great public speaker, is not allowed to speak to the court in his own defence.
Colbert and Louis are probably afraid Fouquet might be able to win some of the judges over to his side, if he is allowed to speak to them. This is why they decide that the trial should be held in written form.
But how can a director of a movie deal with this situation? When a director is making a historical drama, it is not easy to cover a trial which is held in written form.
This is probably why the director decided to present a “normal” trial where the defendant is facing the judges and where he is allowed to speak for himself.
# 2. Towards the end of the drama, Colbert travels to Pignerol where he visits Fouquet in his prison cell.
Such a meeting can have a great effect when you are making a movie. But in the real world, such a meeting never happened.
Colbert won the coveted post: he was First Minister of State to King Louis for more than 20 years (1661-1683).
He outlived his arch enemy - but not for long.
He died in 1683.
Some scenes which may seem to be false are actually true. Here are two examples:
# 1. Fouquet tries to recruit a mistress of the king as a spy. But this operation does not go well for him, because she refuses to take his money. And then she goes straight to the king and tells him the whole story.
This is true. This happened. And this episode hardly increased the king’s trust in Fouquet!
# 2. A box with documents hidden in a secret compartment behind a mirror in Fouquet’s home is discovered shortly after his arrest in 1661.
This box, which is known as the cassette of Saint Mandé, contains incriminating documents which were written a few years before, at a moment in time when Fouquet was afraid that he might be arrested.
In these documents, he explains to his friends and supporters what he expects them to do in order to save themselves and maybe him.
This is true. This happened. And these documents do not exactly present Fouquet as a loyal civil servant.
How and why did Fouquet die in 1680? According to one version, he died of natural causes. His health had been undermined by many years in the prison cell.
According to another version, he was poisoned by someone in the prison. This version is based on a rumour which cannot be proved. On the other hand, it cannot be disproved. It is not an impossible suggestion.
When the director made the drama, he decided to believe the rumour. We cannot say his version is false, because it might be true.
What do reviewers say about this historical drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 68 percent which corresponds to a rating of 3.5 stars on Amazon.
There is one user review, which is positive, but there is no specific rating
On Amazon France there are at the moment 50 ratings of this product, 25 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.3 stars which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.
I like this drama, and I want to give it a good
rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws
which cannot be ignored, so I cannot go all the way to the top.
If you ask me, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is too high. I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS. Laurent Heynemann is the director of several movies and television films, including the following:
** La Question (1977)
** Laval, le collaborateur (2021)
REFERENCES
The Man Who Outshone the Sun King:
A Life of Gleaming Opulence and Wretched Reversal in the Reign of Louis XIV
By Charles Drazin
2008
Embezzlement and High Treason in Louis XIV’s France:
The Trial of Nicolas Fouquet
By Vincent J. Pitts
2015
A Day at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
By Alexandre de Vogue, Jean-Charles de Vogue, and Ascanio de Vogue
2015
Vaux-le-Vicomte:
A Private Invitation
By Guillaume Picon
2021
*****
The French civil servant
Nicolas Fouquet
1615-1680
Superintendent of Finances
1653-1661
Painted by Charles Le Brun
*****
The coat-of-arms of the Fouquet family
The Squirrel
*****
The French civil servant
Jean Baptiste Colbert
1619-1683
First Minister of State to Louis XIV
1661-1683
*****
The coat-of-arms of the Colbert family
The Snake in the Grass
*****
Louis XIV
1638-1715
King of France
1643-1715
*****
Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
Located ca. 50 km southeast of Paris
*****
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