

Célimène, a beautiful young widow, chooses to keep her many suitors hoping in order to preserve her freedom, even though she is drawn to one of them, Alceste. An idealist, Alceste refuses to play the social game; he seeks to persuade the young woman to abandon her strategy and give herself over to an exclusive love. Theater play "Le misanthrope" played by the "Comédie française" in 2000. Rather than a simple recording of a live theater performance, this version was explicitly structured as a television movie. It blended cinematic camera work with the theatrical script.

Alberte Aveline
Arsinoë

Michel Favory
Oronte

Isabelle Gardien
Éliante

Denis Podalydès
Alceste

Laurent d'Olce
Clitandre

Clotilde de Bayser
Célimène

Laurent Natrella
Philinte

Christian Gonon
Acaste

Guillaume Gallienne
Le garde Dubois
Alain Lahaye
Basque