MADAME DE THIANGES, the eldest sister of Madame de Montespan, had two daughters, the Duchesse de Nevers and the Duchess Sforza; and two other duchesses and a marquise were daughters of her brother, ...

Madame de Pompadour was a power to be reckoned with during the reign of her lover, the French king Louis XV. Born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, she rose through the proverbial ranks at the court of ...

SOME of M. Victor Cousin’s readers are disposed to be more grateful to him for his eight volumes of biographies of the famous Frenchwomen of the seventeenth century than for the historicophilosophical ...

Four gilt-bronze sconces that lit up home of Louis XV’s mistress are set to go on sale at Sotheby’s in December For almost 140 years, four massive gilt-bronze wall lights have hung in the 18th-century ...

When people have asked me to name the greatest film of all time—in my humble opinion, of course—my instant answer When people have asked me to name the greatest film of all time—in my humble opinion, ...

After numerous viewings I'm happy to call Max Ophüls's Madame de…, made in 1953 and re-released in a new print, flawless. Ophüls returned from his extended Hollywood exile (which had resulted in four ...

Belgian actress Cecile de France ('Hereafter,' 'The Young Pope') headlines 'Mademoiselle de Jonquieres,' a sparkling period drama that offers a delicious variation on 'Les liaisons dangereuses.' By ...

Queen of frou-frou: Danielle Darrieux as the flighty Louise in 'Madame de...' The earrings have assumed the power of her briefly requited love The movie was expanded by Ophüls and his co-writers from ...