L'affaire des poisons/The Affair of the Poisons (Film 1955 - ENG SUB)

The Affair of the Poisons (French: L'affaire des poisons, Italian: Il processo dei veleni) is a 1955 French-Italian historical drama film directed by Henri Decoin and starring Danielle Darrieux, Viviane Romance and Paul Meurisse. Audio in French with English and French subtitles (click on CC for subtitles).

The film is adapted from the 1907 play of the same title by Victorien Sardou. It was shot in Technicolor at the Boulogne Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jean d'Eaubonne. The film is set against the backdrop of the real Affair of the Poisons in seventeenth century France, and demonstrates a darker tone than many more nostalgic depictions of the past.

Worried that she is losing the interest of Louis XIV, his lover Madame de Montespan turns to a young witch who takes part in network of black magic and poisoning. The ensuing scandal rocks the French court and leads to arrests, executions and the banishment of de Montespan from public life.

Cast & Characters:
Danielle Darrieux as Françoise Athénaïs de Montespan
Viviane Romance as Catherine Deshayes dite La Voisin
Paul Meurisse as L'abbé Etienne Guibourg
Anne Vernon as Hermine Des Oeillets
Pierre Mondy as Le capitaine François Desgrez
François Patrice as Monsieur de Lignières
Christine Carère as Marie-Angélique de Fontanges
Roldano Lupi as L'alchimiste Lesage
Albert Rémy as Le bourreau Guillaume
Luisa Rossi as Madame Gobet
Renaud Mary as Henri de Montespan
Maurice Teynac as Nicolas de la Reynie
Roland Armontel as L'aveugle
Michel Etcheverry as Le prédicateur
Albert Michel as Gobet
Jacques Moulières as L'enfant de l'aveugle
André Numès Fils as Le greffier
Dominique Page as La fille enceinte
Simone Paris as Madame de Ludre
Jean-Marie Robain as Un juge de la Chambre Ardente