Ridicule

Ridicule

Ridicule, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, can be a noun or verb meaning words or actions intended to evoke contemptuous laughter at or feeling towards a person or thing. Ridicule is also the title of a 1996 Patrice Leconte directed movie starring Charles Berling and Jean Rochefort. The movie depicts eighteenth century France and the court of Louis XVI at Versailles leading up to the French Revolution. The word Ridicule is both a good title for the movie and a good description of the time leading up to, and one of the causes of, the French Revolution.

The Movie Ridicule is about a man journeys to Versailles to see the King in hopes of retaining financial backing to drain the swamps of his homeland so his people will not keep dying from disease. When he reaches Versailles, he realizes the only way to reach the King is to play the games of the court, and the only game the court plays is a battle of wit. The only way to win this warfare of wit is to ridicule your adversary better and faster than he ridicules you. The court, who think Voltaire as their bible, yet they no not for what he speaks. They use his words and phrases, but they forgot what he stood for.

One of the first scenes indicative of the title Ridicule, is at a dinner party where the Baron de Gueret is trying to show his lineage in a painting of a man on a horse. The abbe de Villecourt ridicules him by asking if he is referring to the Horse rather than the man. Later de Gueret, who wants to see the King to trying to reinstate his family name to the status it once had, falls asleep while waiting for the King and de Villecourt removes de Gueret's shoe, tosses it in the fire, and exposes the hole in his sock. This forces Gueret, again ridiculed, to go around pleading like a peasant to borrow a shoe so he can make his appointment with the king. The hole in de Gueret sock is symbolism for his family's once prestigious reputation that is now worn and tattered. Needless to say, soon after this event we see de Gueret hanging from a tree, as he and his family's reputation had been ridiculed beyond repair for his slow wit would have no chance at redemption.

Later in the movie, another important scene filled with ridicule is when the Countess de Blayac arranges a dinner party and intently invites one too many guests. She then suggests a war of wits to determine who will be humiliated and forced to vanquish the table. Blayac then distracts Ponceludon sexually by playing footsie with him under the table leaving him unable to respond with his wit and ultimately allowing others to ridicule him. After being the one lacking, Ponceludon disgraced, leaves court.

Madame de Blayac convinces Ponceludon not only to return to court but also to sleep with her in exchange for her setting up a meeting for him with the King. Knowing that he has feelings for Matilde de Bellegarde, she calls on the doctor, Matilde's father, to visit while Ponceludon is still in her room. She does this knowing that the incident will get back to Matilde, ridiculing Ponceludon again, this time on a personal level.

One of the final examples of ridicule in the movie comes at a costume party, which is for the wittiest of wits. Madame de Blayac sets up, yet again for Ponceludon to be humiliated. She arranges for someone to trip Ponceludon while she is dancing with him. After the incident, he is ridiculed