The Death of Louis XIV

“The most beautiful film at Cannes 2016.”—Sight and Sound

A wry, neoclassical chamber drama and a work of pure magic by one of today’s most singular directors, The Death of Louis XIV features a magisterial, career-capping performance by French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud (The 400 Blows). Back from a hunting trip, an extravagantly adorned Louis XIV falls ill and attempts to rule the court while bedridden. Filled with ravishing, candlelit images and painstaking historical detail, the film is as darkly funny as it is moving in its portrait of the absurdities of royalty and death. (115 mins., DCP)