The best elements of this outstanding film are the opulent costuming and production design. Indeed, the culmination to the King's entertainment is a sensational "live event" that is itself an eye-popping spectacle within a spectacle. Depardieu gives a bravura performance as the over-worked, hard-pressed and self-sacrificing major domo struggling to make his boss look good on a shoestring budget.
That film is not very "historical" as many details are missed or replaced by "better-looking-ones", but I would recommend that film to everybody who is interested in Louis XIV age. Although the costumes have an "oriental-touch" and history didn't let us to know much about Vatel (so everything you see about him in that film is fiction), but the film is very very very beautiful and will make every 17th-century-admirer happy.
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Louis XIV | Julian Sands |
Philippe | Murray Lachlan young |
Marie-Therese (Queen) | Nathalie Cerda |
Vatel | |
Anne de Montausier | Uma Thurman |
Prince de Conde | Julian Glover |
Marquis de Lauzun | Tim Roth |
| Emilie Ohana |
Athenais de Montespan | Marine Delterme |