I like period pieces, and this film has plenty of history (late 17th-century France, Louis XIV), setting (Normandy) and elaborate costumes (including various hairpieces). There is some interesting insight into Madame de Maintenon, the mistress-cum-wife of the king (whose devotion to Catholicism most certainly influenced her husband's repression of the Protestants in France). The acting is marvelous, perhaps most notably among the younger girls, who progress from speaking their local patois (Provencale, Languedocien, etc.) to "proper" French as Madame sees to it that they become educated young ladies. My 20th-century-trained ear found it a bit difficult to understand all of this proper French, but I did enjoy the film.
