Versailles : Les défis du roi Soleil

Versailles' Dirty Secrets

The chateau of Versailles is believed to have been a dirty palace: a place where everyone tossed the contents of their chamber pots from the windows above… Yet during the chateau’s construction, Louis XIV had given thought to commodities, and several public latrines were built as well as a very modern water system. So where did this bad reputation come from?

Les trésors des favorites des rois de France

André Le Nôtre, le jardinier de Louis XIV

André Le Notre is certainly the most famous French gardener. He was also a designer, architect, engineer, landscaper and urban planner. He worked for Louis XIV from 1645 to 1700 and designed the gardens of Versailles, Vaux le Vicomte, Chantilly and Fontainebleau, as well as the Tuileries in Paris.

Versailles, construction d'un rêve impossible

Versailles, une révolution au jardin

Louis XVI: The Unknown Versailles

Stéphane Bern tells the story of King Louis XVI, deposed by the revolution and guillotined on January 21st, 1793. He was a cultured man, passionate about the technical advances of his time, but powerless against the huge deficit in the country. He actively supported the birth of the USA. Louis XVI was the last king to live in the palace of Versailles, where he organized the first flight of a balloon, launched the legendary expedition of Jean-Francois de La Perouse and offered his wife Marie Antoinette, the beautiful setting of the Petit Trianon, as million visitors around the world continue to admire.

The Real Versailles

As BBC Two premieres its lavish new drama set in the sumptuous surroundings of Versailles, Lucy Worsley and Helen Castor tell the real-life stories behind one of the world's grandest buildings. They reveal the colourful world of sex, drama and intrigue that Louis XIV and his courtiers inhabited. Lucy untangles Louis's complex world of court etiquette, fashion and feasting, while Helen delves into the archives and unpicks the Machiavellian world of court politics that Louis created. We meet the people behind the on-screen characters and discover what drove Louis to glorify his reign on a scale unmatched by any previous monarch, examine the tension between Louis and his brother Philippe, a battle hero and overt homosexual, and they meet the coterie of women who competed for Louis's attention. We see that Louis was ruthless in his pursuit of glory and succeeded in defeating his enemies. In his record-breaking 72-year reign, France became renowned for its culture and sophistication.

Battle at Versailles

M2M's first original long-form documentary, Battle at Versailles, follows an event in 1973 at Palace of Versailles where top French designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin faced of against American newcomers Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Halston. That pitted France’s best designers against the best America had to offer. It was the first time the fashion world's gaze was fixated on American design.

Versailles, the visit

You will discover the history of the palace as well as the masterpieces it houses. This is the most complete tour imaginable, covering the gardens, the royal apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, the Petit Trianon, the Royal Chapel and the Opera. This private visit will enable you to see the treasures which astound the 10 million people who visit the castle and gardens every year.

A86 : Le Défi d'un tunnel à double étage

The Duplex A86 is a 10 kilometer underground highway buried more than 90 meters deep. This concrete tube, measuring the equivalent of more than 30 lying Eiffel towers, is the longest tunnel in France. The result of a succession of technical prowess born from the imagination of visionary engineers, the Duplex A86 allows you to cross all of western Paris in a few minutes.

Versailles Rediscovered: The Sun King's Vanished Palace

Based on the latest technological and scientific advances, this documentary explores the palace's architectural past to resurrect Louis XIV's vanished Versailles. Versailles was an ongoing building site at the time of Louis XIV and continued to be transformed by its successive occupants later on. The Versailles we know today only vaguely resembles the Versailles of the Sun King. Most of its original features and apartments no longer exist. Thanks to the digitisation of thousands of plans, a team of scientists takes us back in time to explore this forgotten past in a new way, through a large-scale reconstruction project to bring back the Versailles of Louis XIV as he designed it, according to his requirements and dreams.

Louis XVI, l'homme qui ne voulait pas être roi

The dramatic events around the French king Louis XVI and the French crises in the late 1700's with no will to pay taxes, which led Louis XVI into an impossible situation as a king.

Farewell, My Queen

A look at the relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her readers during the final days of the French Revolution.

Royal Affairs in Versailles

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

Midnight in Paris

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

The Under-Gifted

The story centers around a graduating class of "less-gifted" students in a private Versailles high school. Only a miracle has brought the students this far along, and after a practical joke misfires and the whole school is dynamited, the students are in deep trouble. They have to present themselves in court for their punishment and it could not be worse: If they don't pass their high-school graduation exams, they go to prison!

La Commune (Paris, 1871)

We are in the year 1871. A journalist for Versailles Television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events while a Commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the Paris rebels. On a stage-like set, more than 200 actors interpret characters of the Commune, especially the Popincourt neighborhood in the XIth arrondissement. They voice their thoughts and feelings concerning the social and political reforms.

Louis XV, le Soleil noir

How Louis XV, a young king loved by his people, sensitive to the artistic and intellectual turmoil of his century (that of the Enlightenment), will end his reign in decay and hatred? Only fifteen years after his death, it's the Revolution.

Madame du Barry

The daughter of a seamstress, Jeanne Bécu could hardly imagine she would later become one of the most influential women of the Kingdom of France...

Versailles: The Dream of a King

Docudrama about the life of Louis XIV nicknamed "the Sun King", the King of France who ran a glamorous court, expanded the borders of France, loved women and parties and built an incredible palace for himself - the Versailles.