La Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764, nee Jeanne Antoinette Poisson) favorite du roi LouisXV, tableau par Francois Boucher, 1759, coll. WallaceCollection-Londres --- Marquess of Pompadour (1721-1764, born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson) mistress of french king LouisXV, painting by Francois Boucher, 1759
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise of Pompadour (1721-64) started life as the illegitimate daughter of a well-to-do Frenchman, married her guardian’s nephew, started attending salons, met King Louis XV and became his official “maitresse en titre” (titled mistress). She was a patron of the arts and architecture, and when her relationship with Louis ended she stayed on as a good friend and personal adviser until her death. She’s probably THE second-best known style icon (after Marie-Antoinette) of the 18th century, so let’s take a look at her on screen!
Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)
Rudolph Valentino as a French duke who goes undercover as a barber; French actress Paulette Duval plays la Pompadour.
Madame Pompadour (1927)
Dorothy Gish (sister of Lillian) plays the marquise in this very loose biopic.
Marquis d’Eon, der Spion der Pompadour (1928)
Aka “Spy of Madame Pompadour,” and focused on the transgender French spy, the chevalier d’Eon. A German silent film with Agnes Esterhazy as Pompadour.
Madame Pompadour (1931)
Another German film, Anny Ahlers played the famed mistress.
Un caprice de la Pompadour (1931)
A French version of the German “Madame Pompadour,” this time starring Marcelle Denya.
Voltaire (1933)
A film centered on the Enlightenment author, with madame de Pompadour (Doris Kenyon) as his patroness.
Die Pompadour (1935)
Apparently the Germans like the marquise (Käthe von Nagy)!
Der König lächelt – Paris lacht (1936)
Aka “The Postman from Longjumeau.” A musical comedy in which a postilion is recruited by Pompadour (Thekla Ahrens) to join her opera company.
Let’s Go Up the Champs-Élysées (1938)
French director Sacha Guitry made a number of episodic films about French history; this one focuses on the most famous street in Paris. Jeanne Boitel (Shadow of the Guillotine) plays Pompadour.
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
Another take on this comedy, this time starring Bob Hope. Hillary Brooke – Blanche Ingram in 1943’s Jane Eyre – plays Pompadour.
Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)
A comedy/swashbuckler about a guy who is recruited into the French army with promises that he can marry the king’s daughter. Geneviève Page plays la Pompadour.
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
Another episodic film by Sacha Guitry, which I’d REALLY like to see (hit me up if you have a source!); this one focuses on episodes in the palace of Versailles’s history. Micheline Presle plays the marquise to Jean Marais’s Louis XV.
Le secret du Chevalier d’Eon (1960)
Very loosely based on the famous transgender French spy. Simone Valère plays Pompadour.
Madame Quinze (1969)
I BELIEVE this was a French TV show, but perhaps it was a stage play? It was developed by the Comédie Française, hence the confusion. It focuses on Louis and Pompadour’s (Claude Winter)affair.
Les évasions célèbres: Latude ou l’entêtement de vivre (1972)
A TV series about famous historic escapes. This episode includes Claude Winter again as Pompadour.
Madame Pompadour (1974)
Ok, so I think this was a German TV filming of an operetta about the marquise (Ingeborg Hallstein), but this album image I found was so hilarious I had to include it.
L’attentat de Damiens (1975)
A French TV movie about Robert-François Damiens, who tried to assassinate Louis XV. Myriam Feune de Colombi plays the famous mistress.
Ce diable d’homme: Emilie contre Frédéric (1975)
Yet another French TV series, with one episode that includes Pompadour (Geneviève Grad).
Softly from Paris: Le style Pompadour (1991)
An “erotic French TV series,” with one episode focusing on the marquise (Marie-Ève Doré).
Madame Pompadour (1996)
Another broadcast of the operetta, with Noëmi Nadelmann as the marquise.
Il giovane Casanova (2002)
Which translates to “the young Casanova.” An Italian TV movie about the famous seducer who, at the end of the film, ends up in Paris seducing Pompadour (Katja Flint)!
Fanfan la Tulipe (2003)
Yet another stab at this swashbuckler, which I have tried to watch at least twice and fallen asleep both times. This DESPITE Vincent Perez in the title role! The costuming appears to be somewhat on crack. Hélène de Fougerolles plays Pompadour, although I have yet to make it to her entrance. Someday! shakes tiny fist
Jeanne Poisson, marquise de Pompadour (2006)
Okay, I gotta see this one because VINCENT PEREZ AS LOUIS XV. DYING. Hélène de Fougerolles (Fanfan la Tulipe) reprises her role as Pompadour (I guess she was that good?).
Doctor Who: The Girl in the Fireplace (2006)
Do I really need to introduce this? Doctor Who, androids stalk Madame de Pompadour (Jessica Atkins, briefly, as the child version; Sophia Myles as the adult).
Louis XV, le Soleil noir (2009)
For once, a biopic focused on Louis instead of la Pomp (Romane Portail)!
Casanova (2015)
The Amazon pilot that sadly went nowhere. Bojana Novakovic plays the marquise.
Who’s your favorite Pompadour? Okay, who’s your favorite OTHER than Sophia Myles?
Favourite is ‘Girl in the Fireplace’
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954) is very fun, with the entire who’s who of the french cinema plus Claudette Colbert.
But the costumes are crappy.
the costumes are all “fifties does historical”. And Jean Marais as Louis XV, which always makes me giggle now.
Mine, as well. Thank you, Kendra, for not overlooking that one!
That’s the only one of the above I’ve seen. Do any of the others reach that bar?
Me too!
Madame Pompadour must not be popular with Hollywood producers.
I don’t like any of the represantation of Madame de Pompadour. It’s astonishing how often she was portrayed, but never really brought to life again.
I feel like Hollywood (at least in the US) and American audience aren’t that into 17th-18th century France story unless it involves Marie Antoinette.
I think Hollywood doesn’t GET her because she wasn’t actually slutty.
De Poisson? sounds pretty fishy to me.
Congrats, you made it to Versailles level humor! That’s exactly what was whispered behind the marquise back, more or less loudly depending on your status.
Apparently a popular dish of the French Court was “sole a la Pompadour”….
As beautiful as Sophia Myles is, I always got a bit hung up on the fact that she is very blue-eyed blonde ice queen and Pompadour had brown eyes and in all her portraits, she just looks so charming and roguish in a very specific way, which I didn’t quite get from the devastatingly beautiful Sophia Myles. I guess they cast Sophia because she and Tennant were an item at the time, because, chemistry.
Vincent Perez is always the right answer. The fact that I don’t remember the question is beside the point.
Funny that few adaptations follow her actual color code: she loved blue and pink and was known to wear them constantly, matching her coach ot her furnitures with her dresses
Okay, having a 2 year old niece just made me think while seeing that first “fan fan “ photo is “Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse theme”. The one woman has red polka dots for kittens sake.