Beyond the Costume Picture: THE TAKING OF POWER BY LOUIS XIV

With THE TAKING OF POWER BY LOUIS XIV, neorealist pioneer Roberto Rossellini created the first of the fascinating, often overlooked historical dramas that would define his late career—and reinvented the costume picture in the process. In this edition of Observations on Film Art, Professor Kristin Thompson explores how Rossellini uses meticulously detailed costuming to visually convey the Sun King’s transformation of France from a decentralized, feudal state into an absolute monarchy molded in his own ostentatious image. The result is a singular achievement in which the central tension—the struggle for political power between Louis and the aristocracy—plays out as a cold war of couture.