Directed by Patrice Leconte
Written by Michel Fessler, Eric Vicaut and Rémi Waterhouse
IMDB

"Ridicule" is a romantic dramedy about wit and a man's struggle to speak to the king about draining a swamp that is killing his people.  To get to the king, he must match wits with the aristocracy.  In the meantime, he is falling in love with the daughter of the old man with whom he's been staying.  Yet, the bedroom of the countess will get him to the king faster.  And the old man's daughter is engaged to some gross elderly fellow.
I was intrigued when I saw that this movie was about wit.  There are few movies that I know of that use this as the theme; maybe just this one.  Within  the first few minutes there is male full frontal nudity with shown urination (on a person, no less).  This kind of turned me off from the movie to begin with, but it won me back.  It featured no other golden showers, thankfully.
As a film, it was very well made.  It's very dialogue driven, which is to be expected when the central theme of the movie is wit.  The scenery is pretty and the costumes are fine.  I am not in love with period pieces featuring the feudal system, but generally those films that I see are set in England and not France.  Plus, this one doesn't center around the King/Queen like some others.  This is mostly taking place in the country side and dinner party settings.
I enjoyed this film.  It was different.  I wouldn't call it funny, but it had humor and wit.  It is mostly a romantic movie and, of course, a period piece.  It's a welcomed break from horror movies and the gorefest of "Hobo with a Shotgun."

7.5/10