26 June 2026
LES CAPRICES DE L’ENFANT ROI ***1/2 (vo French, subtitled in English)
This amusing historical film is a delight! It’s 1651 in France, and rebellions are raging outside the royal palace. The 13-year-old King Louis XIV, the future Sun King, is sent by his mother, the regent Queen Anne of Austria (Doria Tillier) away to safety, escorted by the famed Musketeer, D’Artagnan (Franck Dubosc, comedically excellent!).
Much of the tale is fictitious, of course, for the director, Michel Leclerc has combined two of France’s finest literary figures, Molière and Cyrano de Bergerac, to put a fresh spin on this swashbuckling yet tender yarn about an arrogant, spoiled royal child coming of age through his encounters with such great minds. It’s an homage both to them and to a future king who made theatre, music, dance and architecture his ardent passions during his reign of more than 70 years.
The young Niels Hamel-Brochen (born in Alsace in 2011 and who appeared in a Shakespearean stage production at age seven) is an absolute find as the young Louis XIV, deserving a César nomination for his multi-layered performance, while Artus plays a bold yet compassionate Cyrano who becomes a hero figure for the royal teenager.
Mixing tongue-in-cheek historical intrigue, romance, brilliant theatrical creations, and human solidarity in a visually rich production, this is a film not to miss.
Stay for the final credits to catch some delicious asides…
MINIONS AND MONSTERS ***
For the kids, this is an exciting animated film featuring those adorable little Minions who are truly “mignon”, as the French would say. But then the director, and the voice of all the Minions, is a Frenchman named Pierre Coffin. His Minions are so silly sweet and so very naughty that you end up wanting to take at least one of them home!
If you’re familiar with their lucrative franchise in the “Despicable Me” films, which have been going on for years, you know that the Minions don’t really talk but just mumble funny sounds that end up somewhat understandable. They can, however, say their names quite clearly, and three newcomers are at the forefront of all this hilarity and mayhem: James, the artistic one; Henry, his best friend; and Ed, a sweet deaf/mute Minion who becomes their faithful buddy.
The story begins with a huge horde of these little fellows searching desperately around the world for monsters they can serve – don’t ask… They find many monsters, often driving them bonkers before moving on, until they finally end up in the Wild West and eventually Hollywood in the late 1920s. Here the real fun starts, for James seems to have a genuine talent for filmmaking, especially after meeting Max, the director of a film set they have crashed.
This unfortunately overly destructive, though hilarious, homage to old Hollywood offers countless adventures, including fleeting cameos of greats such as Chaplin, Buster Keaton, George Lucas and even a friendly, romantic robot, along with the fame little James so dearly desires. The final monster, worst of them all, is a massive orange blob with many eyes – wonder who that could be…?
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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