Watch if you love:

• sass…oh so much sass
• Shakespeare, but you’ve read everything like 12 times already cause you’re an over achiever
• disguises
• beautiful costumes or you just generally have a flair for fabrics
• drama (in every sense of the word)
• 16th century France
• meditations on the power of comedy
• beleaguered artists who are too smart for their own good

Odds are that you have heard of Shakespeare, but unless you have a penchant for French literature (or come from a French speaking country) you probably haven’t heard of Molière. Which is a damn shame because the French playwright Molière easily rivals Shakespeare in comedic genius.

Curious? Ok I’ll tell you more.

The premise of this 2007 film adaption Molière is similar to that of Shakespeare in Love where the plots of several plays written by Molière, along with historic facts, are used to to construct a hypothetical window into the great playwright’s life. But where Shakespeare in Love leans into the realms of idealism and dare I say it…fluff  (Nothing against fluff. I enjoy it quite regularly) Molière  retains all the spirit of the plays and yet maintains both a lightness and a gravitas that is characteristic of the author himself. Not to mention a keen eye for the absurd and a sharp wit.

Get ready for disguises, death, seduction (both successful and unsuccessful), and some of the most memorable characters you will ever see. True to its namesake Molière manages to exhibit the ridiculous in every situation in ways that evoke both laughter and reflection. Don’t worry about a saccharine ending its just the right mix of bitter and sweet.

Put down A Midsummer Night’s Dream, stop dwelling on Downton, and watch this ASAP.