Moliere

Moliere (2007) is a French period comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Laurent Tirard with Romain Duris as the young Jean-Baptiste Poquelin — the playwright who would become Molière — at a point in his life when debt has left him with no options. A wealthy social climber named Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini) offers to clear the tab in exchange for a favour: coach him in the arts of seduction so he can win a widowed marquise.

The catch is the disguise. Jourdain installs his new tutor as "Tartuffe," a devout Catholic and household guest. Jourdain's wife — played by Ludivine Sagnier with quick intelligence — is not fooled for a moment, which is where the real story begins. The comic machinery tightens: a lesson in performance becomes a rehearsal for something neither man planned.

Tirard's film works as a witty speculation — what if the plots of Molière's greatest comedies, Tartuffe and The Bourgeois Gentleman, came from his own life? It's a neat conceit, and Duris and Luchini make it genuinely fun. Watch Moliere (2007) online on iFILM.