A gripping drama about the clash between an artist and the ruling power.
Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of The Master and Margarita, portrays the most dramatic period of Molière's life, as the famous playwright experiences an unequal love for the young Armande, tastes both the glitz and the dark side of fame, fights for Tartuffe, and loses the King's favor. Into this story of a passionate theater man, Bulgakov infused his own fateful love for theater and acting, as well as his experience with political power. What remains for a person who has given their heart to the theater when they can no longer do their work? Or when they cannot do it according to their honest artistic conscience? When the King forces them to lie or twist the truth? Must they give up their art? Can they even do so? A story about a person for whom art is a destiny. The affinity between Bulgakov (1891–1940) and Molière (1622–1673) was also reflected in the fate of the play itself: shortly after its premiere in 1936, it was banned, its author was permanently placed on the list of regime opponents, and he followed his hero in the struggle until his death. In his confession to the theater, however, he created an immortal, gripping drama about the clash between a great artist and the ruling power, as well as the eternal transience of the theatrical world. The aging Molière struggles with Louis XIV for creative freedom and, in an unequal fight, encounters the very limits of human strength. And theater has always been based on this struggle: a person on stage facing the world as well as their own earthly fragility and unmanageable emotions. Both the hero and the actor who creates him.