All language subtitles for O.Saisons.O.Chateaux.1958.FRENCH.720p.BluRay.H264.AAC-VXT.eng

Pierre Braunberger
95 Champs-Elysées

Presents...

THE BEAUTIFUL CHATEAUX
OF THE LOVELY LOIRE VALLEY

O seasons, O châteaux

Narrated by...

Poems Read by...

CHÂTEAU FOR SALE

Around the year 1000,
Fulk the Black, Count of Anjou,

was at war with Thibault the Trickster,
Count of Blois.

Fulk the Black built
more than 20 keeps:

this one in Langeais...

Look.

This cedar,
after the one at the Tours museum,

is the largest in the region.

this one in Montrichard...

and this one in Loches —
all in the same square style.

After the feudal wars, the crowns
of France and England fought.

Sharply angled towers were built,
like in Loches.

Or round towers like in Chinon...

and Montrésor.

The Angers fortress was ruled

by Fulk the Good, Fulk the Black,
Fulk the Ill-Tempered,

and then Geoffrey the Fair,

who wore broom — or genet —
in his hat,

giving the name Plantagenet
to a dynasty:

Richard the Lionheart,
John Lackland,

and the good King René,
his heart full of love.

The château in Chinon
saw the arrival of Joan of Arc.

She advanced
through this great hall,

recognized the Dauphin Charles
hiding among his advisors,

and promised him
he would be crowned in Reims.

Chinon, with its picturesque walls,

attracts Sunday painters.

Jean Schubnel,
former caretaker of the château,

spends all his free time painting,
stone by stone...

the châteaux of the Loire.

He paints in the naive style.

He has a paper-souvenir-grocery-
tobacco-notions shop

in Langeais...

where Louis XI built,
near the old dungeon,

a fortified château.

A covered sentry walk
425 feet long

meant a besieged garrison
could rapidly reach

the exact site of an attack.

From the courtyard,
the château looks austere.

Langeais is, above all, a fortress.

The high walls prevented attackers
from using ladders

and facilitated communication
between watchtowers.

(MEN)

(PLUM TREES)

(WIDOWS)

Jean Bourré supervised
the construction of these high walls.

But for himself he built
a different type of château,

for the cannon had changed
the art of defense.

Large moats were needed
for defense against cannonballs.

The Plessis-Bourré château
was once known

as Plessis The Windy.

It's built of tufa,

a local stone,
very soft and white,

found in quarries
surrounding the village of Bourré.

The last stonecutter, René Hardouin,
does only restoration now.

Tufa is not used
in modern construction.

The wars in France finally ended.

Peace settled over the Loire Valley.

Fortresses gave way

to more gracious dwellings.

In Ronsard's day
there were no lime trees.

Like this château in Talcy,

where Ronsard courted
Cassandre Salviati,

who inspired him to write

the first in his Amours series.

"I'd like to turn a rich yellow

And fall drop by golden drop

Into the bosom
of my lovely Cassandre

As her eyelids lower with sleep

Will I never see a season bring

Truce or peace, life or death

To rip out the teeth
of woes gnawing at me

My heart worn down
by a powerful rasp"

- But Cassandre wasn't interested.
- She preferred her neighbor.

"And yet you do not know

That like this lovely season,
so your age will pass

Like a flower
languishing down below

That passing time
has failed to pluck

You despise nature

Are you so cruel as to scorn love?

The shepherdess at her spindle
prattles on about her loves

And the shepherd boy
answers her song

Here all things love

Everything speaks of love
and yearns to burn in its flames

Only your heart,
cold as the coldest ice

Remains stubborn

And refuses to love"

The House of Valois
fell under the spell of this place

and decided to bring
its court here.

Young Charles VIII wanted
to build a grand residence

and chose Amboise,

like amber and framboise,
or raspberry.

From the Île Saint-Jean,
formerly known as the Isle of Gold...

one could see on the hillside

a château that was
at the time only a fortress.

Charles VIII wanted Gothic style,
and the chapel was soon completed.

He drove the workers hard,
making them work by candlelight.

The king's abode was soon ready.

But the king
went off to war in Italy.

Impressed by the gardens
and palaces of Naples,

he brought back Italian artists

and gave them free reign.

This marked the beginning
of an important artistic movement

that continued
under Louis XII and François I:

the Renaissance.

Charles VIII died,
and his widow, Anne of Brittany,

was legally required to marry
the new king, Louis XII.

Their daughter Claude
grew up in Amboise.

She became Queen Claude,
namesake of the Reine Claude plum

and wife of François I.

In Blois, one can follow
the progress of architecture.

In the early 1400s, Louis d'Orléans
inherited a feudal château.

His son, Charles d'Orléans...

"The world is weary of me

And I am weary of the world"

...returned to Blois after 25 years
of exile and imprisonment,

added on
the Charles d'Orléans wing,

and took up poetry.

The Blois poetry contest
was famous.

François Villon took part.

"I die of thirst beside the fountain

Hot as fire, shaking tooth on tooth"

Charles's son Louis XII
built the Louis XII wing,

in which Italianate
design elements were created

and incorporated
in the Gothic style.

His son-in-law François I

built the Francois I wing,

where Italianate ornamentation

cover the walls
in the Flamboyant style.

Among the resident poets then
was Clément Marot.

"I am no longer who I was

And no longer will I ever be

My lovely spring and summertime

Through the open window
have flown

Love...

You were my master

I worshipped you above all gods

If I could be born a second time

How much better I would serve you!"

Gaston d'Orléans,
in the 17th century,

built the wing bearing his name.

Blois witnessed
many historical events, including...

THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRI DE GUISE

Silence falls on the Guise dynasty...

and on all the phantom ladies
of Chenonceau as well.

Pieced together like patchwork,

this legendary château
is a whimsical collection of oddities.

On an old dungeon tower,
a pinnacle turret.

On the foundations
of a water mill, a chapel.

On a bridge, a long gallery.

If Chenonceau is full
of fantasy and charm,

Azay-le-Rideau
is pure Renaissance,

with no surprises.

This cedar turns silver
at Christmastime.

Its towers and machicolations
are decorative.

Symmetry reigns.

Chambord, a royal dream château,

is full of contradictions.

The decision to build on marshland

meant costly foundations.

It's a hunting lodge,
but built on a vast scale.

And in this place of perpetual rain,

terraces and rooftops
were built for social gatherings.

François I
probably never imagined

that the 365 rooms,
complete with fireplaces,

would be neither furnished
nor inhabited

except during brief court visits.

Or that those who would
most enjoy the château

would be three generations
of caretakers.

Meet the caretakers' branch
of the Chambord family.

They're back again, showing off.

From their terraces,

ladies would watch their lords
depart for the hunt

with their dogs, horses,
and falcons.

They'd sashay in court dress

through perfume stalls
and ribbon shops

amid the balconies
of this elegant locale.

Valençay's architecture is similar
to that of Chambord...

built on solid foundations.

Entertainment here
wasn't on the rooftops

but was nevertheless lofty.

There were perching peacocks...

perching cats...

and perching ladies.

The dungeon tower still exists,
but purely for decoration.

Deprived of its raison d'être,

it becomes a corner pavilion,

like in this early example
in Villandry

dating from the first half
of the 16th century.

But the medieval moats remain.

Villandry is a model garden
in French style.

"Artichoke and lettuce

Asparagus and parsnip

And the melons of Touraine

Are to me more royal fare

Than all the royal meats

Heaped upon one's plate"

The vegetable gardens are laid out
and decorated with extreme care.

Every detail has a meaning.

The walkways are lined
with lime trees.

The maze is hornbeam.

"I love to be free
and long to be a captive"

As for love...

this is tragic love —
daggers and swords.

Fickle love —

fans, love letters,
butterfly wings.

Tender love — hearts and flames.

As for mad love...

that's another maze!

As for the Chanteloup château,
phantom of the marshes...

nothing remains

but a pagoda.

The Duke of Choiseul,
to show appreciation to friends

who remained faithful
to him during his exile,

built this temple in their honor.

He had it engraved
with Chinese characters

signifying gratitude, kindness,

harmony, and knowledge.

His father being
a shipowner in Nantes,

and adventure
having beckoned in his youth,

Monsieur Siffait, a general under
the Empire, romantic and rich,

bought land on the banks
of the Loire to build...

ruins.

And it ruined him.

He'd stroll among the stairways
leading nowhere

and the unfinished rooms
overlooking the water.

His whim became
the strangest Loire château of all,

known as Siffait's Folly...

in memory of a general...

who dreamed of the sea.