Portrait of Louis XV of France (1710-1774), 1763, Workshop of Louis-Michel van Loo
Okay, so I have a thing for Louis XV (1710-74; reigned 1715-74). Not old Louis, mind you, but hot young Louis. It mostly stems from a very vivid dream I had, in which he and I were laying on the floor in a hallway at Versailles, and let’s just say we were very friendly.
The real, non-dream Louis was born in 1710; he was the great-grandson of Louis XIV. He came to the throne at only age 5, because his grandfather (Louis XIV’s son, Louis “le Grand Dauphin”) and great-uncle died of smallpox in 1711; the following year his father (Louis, Duke of Burgundy) died of measles as did his mother. Thus there was a Regency for several years. He was initially supposed to marry Mariana Victoria of Spain, and she came to live at the French court, but that engagement was dissolved and he married Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of the deposed king of Poland, in part because she offered no political threat.
Louis was involved in several wars, including the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) and the Seven Years War (1756-63). He and Marie Leszczyńska had ten children, among them the famously bitchy aunts who made life difficult for Marie-Antoinette, the wife of his grandson, the future Louis XVI. He was also famous for having two prominent official mistresses, Madame du Pompadour and Madame du Barry, and frequently turns up on screen in connection to them (or Marie-Antoinette) — unfortunately usually the older, not-so-hot version! He died of smallpox in 1774, leaving the throne to his grandson.
Let’s run down Louis on screen!
Madame du Barry (1917)
A silent film focused on Louis’s (Charles Clary) last official mistress (Theda Bara).
Madame du Barry (1919)
Another silent film, another du Barry (Pola Negri)! Louis was played by Emil Jannings.
Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)
Based on a 1900 novel, it’s about a duke (Rudolph Valentino) who escapes to England disguised as a barber in order to avoid marrying “Princess Henriette.” Lowell Sherman plays Louis, who is doing the forcing-to-marry.
Madame Pompadour (1927)
A silent film with Dorothy Gish as the marquise de Pompadour, and Henri Bosc as the king.
Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930)
Norma Talmadge as du Barry, with William Farnum as the recipient of said passion.
Madame du Barry (1934)
Reginald Owen plays Louis to Dolores del Río‘s du Barry.
Marie Antoinette (1938)
John Barrymore plays the aging king/grandfather-in-law to Norma Shearer‘s Marie-Antoinette.
Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
Red Skelton plays Louis XV in the 18th century dream sequence to Lucille Ball‘s du Barry.
Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)
A French comedic swashbuckler, in which a man joins Louis’s (Marcel Herrand) army in order to avoid a shotgun wedding.
Madame du Barry (1954)
Another French biopic about du Barry (Martine Carol); André Luguet plays Louis as a relatively charming, comic character.
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
One of director Sacha Guitry‘s episodic takes on French history. Famed French actor Jean Marais plays Louis.
Shadow of the Guillotine (1956)
A biopic focused on Marie-Antoinette (Michèle Morgan), but Aimé Clariond makes an appearance as her grandfather-in-law.
King on Horseback (1958)
Another swashbuckler staring Jean Marais; Jean Lara plays Louis.
Le chevalier d’Harmental (1966)
A French TV adaptation of an Alexandre Dumas novel, set during the regency period of Louis’s reign. Pascal Bressy plays the young Louis.
Madame Quinze (1969)
Another French TV movie, this one about Pompadour (who was nicknamed “Madame Quinze” – although I’m not sure why?) and Louis (Maurice Escande).
Joseph Balsamo (1973)
Another French TV adaptation, another Alexandre Dumas novel, this one about the Count di Cagliostro (an Italian magician). Louis is played by Guy Tréjan.
Monsieur Pompadour (1973)
In a French TV movie, a contemporary professor has the bad luck to have the last name Pompadour, and a wife named Antoinette (same as the marquise) who is courted by the local mayor. He goes into a dream sequence where he envisions all of them as their 18th century counterparts. Georges Guétary plays the king.
Série rose: le style pompadour (1991)
A French TV series that seems to be historical softcore porn; this episode focuses on Pompadour, and Pierre-François Pistorio plays Louis.
Fanfan (2003)
A French remake of the 1952 film with Vincent Perez and Penélope Cruz. Didier Bourdon is Louis XV.
Doctor Who: the Girl in the Fireplace (2006)
Everyone’s favorite episode; Ben Turner plays “King Louis.”
Jeanne Poisson, marquise de Pompadour (2006)
Vincent Perez’s turn to take on the king. I started watching this and got annoyed at their portrayal of Pompadour, but I’ll get back to it one of these days!
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Rip Torn plays the aging king in the Sofia Coppola directed, Kirsten Dunst starring biopic.
Louis XV, le soleil noir (2009)
I love the concept of a French biopic actually focused on Louis XV, but I’m not thrilled about what I’m seeing in these pics. Older Louis is played by Stanley Weber, younger by Gabriel Hallali.
The Royal Exchange (2017)
STILL DYING TO SEE THIS. STILL NOT AVAILABLE IN THE US. Young Louis XV (Igor van Dessel) is engaged to Mariana Victoria of Spain, but things don’t work out well.
Do any of these capture the hotness that was young Louis XV? Discuss!
SO interesting! Madame Quinze is probably a snark because it translates as 15 and there may be a double-entendre in there that I can’t catch
Yes I figure it’s a snark, but what does it meeeean? Was she his fifteenth mistress?? From the 15th arrondissement (did that even exist yet)??
I’m guessing, since he was referred to as Louis Quinze (in French you wouldn’t call him Louis the Fifteenth, just Louis Fifteen), it’s a joke, as if Quinze is his last name and she’s his wife.
exactly! Also, not being conversant in double-entrendres in French there may be sexual pun that sounds a bit like “quinze: (Remember, “O Calcutta” was a play on words “”O quel cul t’as!”, French for “What an arse you have!” (copied from WIKI).
OH HEY! and WIKI also just told that there was a popular card game called “Quinze” in the reign of Louis XV!! So maybe she was REALLY lucky at the card table!
and then there is THIS (modern … ish) play on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KLyIWjLsZU
I believe that as he was Louis Quinze, she was Madame Quinze, an acknowledgment of her position as his ‘wife’: the one with the influence, but not with the legitimacy. It could be seen as either a compliment recognising her position at court or a subtle, snickering put down because her position was only as secure as his passion and I expect most resented her.
A Royal Exchange looks adorable (they’re such wee munchkins) AND like a super-interesting story! And the 2009 biopic looks like it might be one of those cases where the costumes aren’t the highest quality but the movie itself is pretty good. It doesn’t look like they totally threw historical accuracy out the window, more like they just maybe didn’t have the best budget.
I can’t say I’m finding any of these particularly hot, but then I’ve never really found the historical Louis XV hot. (Sorry! That younger portrait of him is definitely handsome. Just not particularly my thing.)
They made a movie of ‘Royal Exchange’? I read the novel.
I did too, after writing that preview post! It was great.
I’m a bit confused. Louis XV is referred to in this post as Marie-Antoinette’s father-in-law, but he was Louis XVI’s grandfather, yes? BTW, I wish I had cool dreams like that!
You’re right, grandfather-in-law! Will edit.
None of the Louis are my type, sadly. Maybe if there was an actress playing him in drag.
The John Barrymore image he’s being fed. It’s hard to tell, but the woman sitting before him seems to be feeding him a grape. I don’t have a favorite Louis XV, though I am in love with the de La Tour portrait of him from 1748.
I would love to see Barrymore as old Louis. And I agree with Kendra about the general hotness of young Louis. (Useless trivia: Dustin Hoffman was named for William Farnum’s rather attractive big brother: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Farnum)
Mickey: What’s a horse doing in a spaceship?
Doctor: What’s eighteenth century France doing on a spaceship?
Rose: Oh look what the cat dragged in, The Oncoming Storm!
Mme. De Pompadour to Doctor: This is my lover, the King of France. (Louis and Doctor bristle at each other)
And of course one of the most fabulous Doctor entrances ever, literally on a white horse.
“What’s eighteenth century France doing on a spaceship?” lololol
There is in fact a reason.😉
I saw L’échange des princesses / Royal Exchange at what turned out to be its premiere in Paris. I was sitting in the theater, wondering why it was so crowded, wondering what was causing the delay (because my flight back to the US was early the next morning). What do you know, suddenly all of the actors, the director, the author of the novel it’s based on show up. Mostly I was thinking, ‘Um, how was I able to get a ticket for this?’
My impression was that the movie was fine overall, but the young actor playing Louis XV was great. He’s played by Igor van Dessel, Klein plays a different character.
Wow, how cool! And thanks, I’ll update that name. You’re right, I misread IMDB!
Louis xv turned up for a few episodes of season 2 of Outlander, played by Lionel Lingelser:
https://youtu.be/IuwXrUwrGoc
Oh wow, how did I forget that??!! Will update the post in a bit!!
I would definitely share his Louis
John Barrymore was wonderful in the role,even if his aquiline nose was somewhat uncharacteristic of the monarch.
Dreaming about Louis on the floor of Versailles,seems interesting.My dreams never rise above small,dingy millinery shops(maybe I would come by du Barry one day).
I would guess that Du Barry is Madame Quinze simply because she’s the mistress of Louis XV (« Louis quinze ») ! That’s my Occam’s Razor solution, anyway. :) … I also want to see The Royal Exchange when it’s available. Thanks for the reminder!
I loved the hillarious comedy version of this made “Beaucaire”-Adaption from 1946 and the complete silly representation of Louis XV. Reginal Owen played the old Louis XV in this Comedy.
The film is set in a somehow 18th century mix as the plot doesn’t fit in any period of Louis’ reign. So many events (Spanish marriage (1720s?), Louis is old (1760s), young Madame de Pompadour in romance with the king (second half of the 1740s …).
But I like it, when Louis XV is not portrayed as a old stupid Person. Vincent Perez and Igor van Dessel definetely were the best in your collection.