gavin6942 To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.Now, I know what I am supposed to enjoy about this film is the game of wits played between all these wealthy French folks. And to a certain extent I do. I really enjoyed the rhyming contest, for example. And it made me wonder how the translator handled that, because the subtitles rhymed, but could not possibly have matched the original French.But what I actually liked most was the diving suit. That may be stupid, but as a genre fan, I love seeing makeup and costumes, and this old suit really looked great... sort of a sea monster meets robot look to it. Very cool.

lindseybeloved I picked up this French film from the library knowing nothing about it. The first scene was shocking, and I didn't know whether I was up for it. I'm not squeamish or grossed out by many things. I mean, I've seen another Frenchie called "Irreversible," but it wasn't THAT kind of shock. Okay I'm going to ruin it. A guy urinates on another guy, and it shows it...pee and all. Anyway, I stuck it out (no pun intended), and the movie turned out to be funny and moving in the end. The acting, writing, and visual style were all great. If you can find it, give it a watch. It's a good example of French humor, which is far different than American humor and far more enlightening.

MartinHafer This movie is pretty to look at and well made, but I have always felt very indifferent from costume dramas--particularly those involving a lot of rich French aristos who spend all their time talking and congratulating themselves on their exceedingly high sense of self-importance. When I watched the old MGM film, MARIE ANTOINETTE, I found it to be dull and when I saw more recent films like DANGEROUS LIASONS, VALMONT and RIDICULE, I also thought they were awfully dull. Now I know many have enjoyed them and I wish them well, but these films all place so much emphasis on costumes, hair and the irrelevant trappings of extreme wealth. By the way, I am a history teacher and often I love historical films, but perhaps it's the "annoying American" in me that isn't particularly interested in noblemen and women--I much prefer films about REAL people--REAL people I can connect with. I am not saying that the vacuous people in these films aren't "real" but that it was sure hard to care about them or get into the films. In fact, I really think the best value in RIDICULE is illustrating just how worthless the aristos were in France and how ripe they were for revolution--sort of like a non-surreal and non-humorous version of a Buñuel film such as THE DISCRETE CHARM OF THE BOURGEIOSE.If you ask me, I'd much rather watch an old classic about the French Revolution, such as A TALE OF TWO CITIES or THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL--they're just a lot more interesting and I care much more about the characters.

Terrell-4 Ridicule is a French film which takes place in 1783, a few years before Louis XVI lost the ability to wear a hat; where "...in this country, vices are without consequence, but ridicule can kill." The film is about the effect of wit and word play on people's lives and careers. Malicious, mannered and highly enjoyable. Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort, Bernard Giraudeau and Fanny Ardant are excellent. A man would be a fool not to want to bed Ardant, and even more a fool to trust her. The love affair between Berling and his deep-diving sweetheart is amusing and endearing.The film is sumptuously mounted. The dialogue is so clever a knowledge of French might be in order, but the English subtitles do a superb job of conveying the witty, cruel, self-serving word play.