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Vatel

1. Author: Jeanne Labrune, Tom Stoppard
2. Director: Roland Joffé
3. Screenplay: Jeanne Labrune, Tom Stoppard
4. Editor: Noëlle Boisson
5. Photography: Robert Fraisse
6. Scenography: Cecilia Montiel, Jean Rabasse
7. Music: Ennio Morricone
8. Starring:
   Gérard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Timothy Spall, Julian Glover, Julian Sands, Arielle Dombasle
9. Production: Légende Entreprises, Gaumont, Canal+, Nomad Films, TF1 Films Production, Timothy Burrill Productions
10. France
11. 103 min.
12. 2000

In France at the time of Louis XIV, the Prince of Condé has to regain the King’s favour in the prelude of the Franco-Dutch war to restore the splendour and dignity of his family. On occasion of the visit of the Roi Soleil, three days of festivities and grand banquets are therefore organized at the Château de Chantilly, the hub of court life, of the public and private life of his entourage. In charge of organizing the event is François Vatel, Master of Festivities and Pleasures in the prince's household and a man of great honour. At least in the enchanting perfection of his art, he pursues the way to release himself from subjection to his superiors. Together with the kitchen, the gardens of the castle become the stage for an extravaganza of colours, forms, fires, dances, and splendour at the service of a court resting on its own contradictions and rivalries. Despite his genuine love for the Marquise of Montausier, in turn the King’s mistress, Vatel does not escape his sad slave’s role. Sold by his master to Louis XIV, he would surrender to the impossibility to decide about his own doom, and would let his own life flow away as the best of artifices: beautiful and radiant in its execution, short-lived and vain once executed. Life like a decorated garden, nature subjected to the sovereign’s will, creativity at the service of entertainment for the powerful ones.