Angelica and the King

Angelica and the King is a French-Italian-German co-production from the mid-1960s, the third entry in the historical adventure series built around Anne Golon's Angélique novels. Bernard Borderie once again took the director's chair, continuing the story of the headstrong heroine played by Michèle Mercier as she navigates the intrigues of the court of Louis XIV.

Filming combined studio work at the Billancourt Studios in Paris with location shooting at genuinely royal settings, including the Palace of Versailles, the Abbey of Fontenay, the Château de Chantilly and the town of Senlis, giving the picture a lavish, authentic period backdrop. Production designer Robert Giordani was responsible for the elaborate sets that recreated seventeenth-century court life.

As with the earlier films in the saga, the movie leans on swashbuckling action and romance to carry its costume-drama plot forward, and it kept the series' loyal audience returning after the success of its two predecessors. The picture stands as a mid-point chapter in a five-film cycle that traced Angelica's fortunes from her rise at court through later adventures across Europe and beyond.