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My favourite of all the posters - the joy on Angélique's face as the legend reads "Angélique rediscovers Peyrac" - even though it is the King embracing her and there is no proper translation of "re-finding" to sound as wonderful as "retrouve."
9th April 2021 via 25th/26th February 1964
On 9th April 2021 the death of HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was announced, His Royal Highness was just a few week short of his 100th birthday. I think it is fitting to remember him on this page as it is the day 'The Marquise of the Angels (Michèle Mercier) was presented to Prince Philip in London.
Opera Mundi (Publishers) in collaboration with France-Soir immortalised this event describing it as "The ravishing nymph curtseying at the feet of a prince is the Marquise of the Angels, Michèle Mercier (22 years of age with 22 films behind her). She is to become Angélique de Peyrac, Marquise des Anges on screen. You will be familiar with this heroine created by Anne and Serge Golon whose adventures you will have
read about in France-Soir. Here she is trembling with reverence in front of Prince Philip at the Royal Performance in London. - My thanks to Anne Golon's daughter, Nadine Goloubinoff for having provided me with this image so that I could research it a little further to make this feature worth while.
Nervously awaiting the arrival of HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are Sylva Koscina, George Peppard, Cliff Richard, Britt Eklund, Margaret Rutherford and Honor Blackman (amongst others)
The moment arrives and Michèle Mercier leans forward to shake HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs' hand
HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh remains to have a chat with Michèle Mercier whilst George Peppard looks on in admiration - is that because Michèles' English is excellent or Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh excels in French?
The three images pictured above were sourced from michelemercierarchives.blogspot.com with thanks.
Sylva Koscina et le Prince Philip discutent avant la projection du film 'Move over Darling' à l'Odeon tandis qu'attendent, pour être présentés au Prince, les acteurs Michèle Mercier, George Peppard, Honor Blackman et Cliff Richard le 25 février 1964 à Londres au Royaume-Uni. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) - Image & strapline sourced from and © of Getty Images 'Sylva Koscina and Prince Philip, chat in the presentation line-up after the screening of 'Move Over Darling'. Other actors waiting to be presented to the Duke of Edinburgh, on 25th February 1964, were Michèle Mercier, George Peppard, Honor Blackman and Cliff Richard
Although prominent in the France-Soir article and in the images above, Michèle Mercier did not loom large in the British Press (possibly because the Angélique films had not yet made their mark over here) although she did merit a small mention in the Daily Herald : COVER GIRL CATHY PRINCE PHILIP met television's Cathy Gale - actress Honor Blackman at the royal film premiere last night but he didn't mention The Avengers. Instead Philip asked Honor about Pussy Galore, her part In the next James Bond film. Honor, who was wearing a black dress with a plunging neckline, covered up the plunge with a lace top before meeting Philip. She was one of four redheads presented to him before the film 'Move Over Darling' at the Odeon in Leicester Square. The other redheads were Millicent Martin, Samantha Eggar and Michele Mercier.
Also in the line-up was Peter Sellers' bride of a few days. Britt Eklund . But Sellers was not with her. He is in Hollywood. Philip told Britt: "We all feel very sad that your honeymoon was so fast." Source : British Newspaper Archive
RIP - Jean Rochefort who played Desgrez in the 1960s versions of the films - Sunday, 9th October 2017 aged 87
Some variations on the 2013 version which I think are particularly attractive
What could be more natural that Anne Golon posing in front of a poster featuring 'her Joffrey' - she has publicly stated that ‘Gérard Lanvin dazzling in his interpretation of Count Peyrac'
The image of Anne Golon with the poster for the 2012 film is the copyright of Toutes Les Nouvelles who carry a very honest interview with Anne Golon and the trials she has faced in the intervening years. The article on the internet is in French and a translation can be found here
9th December 1964 - Film Premiere of Angélique, Marquise des Anges at the Moulin Rouge
Première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' Michèle Mercier à son arrivée au cinéma 'Moulin Rouge' pour la première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges', à Paris, France le 9 décembre 1964. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) - 'Première at the Moulin Rouge on 9th December 1964 of the first film featuring 'Angélique, the Marquise of Angels' and showing Michèle Mercier, who is portraying her in the film, arriving for the premiere screening in Paris on 9th December 1964 - image and strapline sourced from and © of Getty Images. It is worth noting that a 'hopeful fan' or a member of the publishing team are holding an edition of the book on which the book is based.
Première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' - Robert Hossein signant des autographes à son arrivée au cinéma 'Moulin Rouge' pour la première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' à Paris, France le 9 décembre 1964. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images). Robert Hossein signing autographs as he arrives at the Moulin Rouge cinema for the premiere screening of 'Angélique, Marquise de Anges' on 9th December 1964 - image and strapline sourced from and © of Getty Images.
Première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' - Robert Hossein arrivant au cinéma 'Moulin Rouge' pour la première du film 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' à Paris, France le 9 décembre 1964. (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) Robert Hossein arrives at the Moulin Rouge cinema for the premiere screening of 'Angélique, Marquise de Anges' on 9th December 1964 - image and strapline sourced from and © of Getty Images.
2014 brings a restored version of the original films in the wake of the success of the 2013 re-make.
Before I embark on the Posters I think it fair to mention that I have recently watched all the films, chronologically, on DVD over a five day period (since writing this, I have now had the opportunity to see the new 2012 version of the film which has superceded this top paragraph) - I was curious to see what I would think after all this time and discussion with other fans of the Angélique books. I stress books as the fans seem to be divided into two - there are those who read the books and then discovered the films and those who saw the films first and then discovered they were based on novels written by Anne and Serge Golon.
In their turn these two groups are also divided - the original readers (lectrices) either love or hate the films. Those that love them like the visual aspect, those that loathe them, do so in the main because they don't follow the plots religiously and for purists that is a problem. Those that saw the the films first are also split not knowing whether they should read the books and risk disappointment or those who do read the books and either come to love them or find them too far away from the films. Thank goodness for the diversity of the readers and viewers - it reinforces the magic that the whole series evokes in whatever genre. 
Angélique, Marquise des Anges - like the book is the title of the first film which follows the book reasonably closely. The period is from Angélique's adolescence to the condemnation and execution of Joffrey de Peyrac believed burnt at the stake in the Place de Grève. Key points covered in this book are the visit to the Plessis estate where Angélique secretes away the poison casket intended to assassinate Louis XIV, the subsequent exile to the nuns to be educated, the proxy marriage to Peyrac, Angélique's rejection of her crippled and scarred husband, her eventual turnaround, the birth of her two sons, a small glimpse into the idyll of their life together before he is cruelly snatched away from her, tried and condemned to death as a sorcerer. For those of you who know the books you will see from the above what has been omitted.
And just for fun - MM being offered a 'light' for her 'cheroot'
A rare photograph from 'Angélique, Marquise des Anges' - preparing the actors for the Marriage by Proxy scene
The Château de Tanley
According to image source Wikiwand - this is a 19th century drawing of the Château de Tanley which was used as a backdrop for the first of the Bernard Broderie films of the 1960s - I actually wondered if this might actually have been the original architectural design as presented to the customer who commissioned the château?
The preferred image of Château de Tanlay as it appears on their website with immediate references to the film on its home page sidebar
As seen on the Château de Tanlay website immediately referencing the film
I love this - adding a touch of authenticity by placing a carriage at the entrance - and this picture appears everywhere! You can find it on a website which has a quiz about the châteaux used as a film location at quiz-bizz | L'yonne républicaine calls it Angélique's 'capes and épées' castle - the image would seem to originate at CentreFrance.
Publicity Shots at Versailles
Michèle Mercier does make a 'magnifique' let alone a 'merveilleuse' Angélique and Getty provided us with the images to prove it!
Despite the age of the films, they always merit a spotlighted mention in the TV magazines as shown in the examples on this page. Many years ago my late friend Anna used to religiously cut snippets about the films and send them to me from Paris. Some got 'lost in the post' others were lost when lent to interested parties (this was in the days before we were able to scan everything in existence) so I was happy to replenish my missing collection by lifting these from the internet. Hopefully I'll find 'Sultan' eventually in a similar format.
Merveilleuse Angélique - the second film covers the action known to readers as Angélique, Le Chemin de Versailles (Road to Versailles) and includes Angélique finding herself at the mercy of her brother Raymond and Desgrez to start with and the hostility and rejection by Hortense. Descending to the Paris Underworld, she finds herself back with Nicholas and usurps La Polack. The storyline of the abandoned children and her rescue attempts stays true to the book as does her eventual rise in the world of cuisine and chocolate. The use of the Gutter Poet to condemn and bring to justice those who murdered one of her charges is also tastefully portrayed as is her relationship with Desgrez. The capitulation of Phillipe is as sudden as if the film producers decided he was a bit of an afterthought. There has been much dialogue between the main characters for us to recognise the cruelty of the character, but happily little of that is transferred to the screen with the exception of his cruelty towards a horse that Angélique was riding and which was a metaphor to imply that if he could break a horse he could break his pretty little cousin. At the conclusion Angélique is presented, by Phillipe to Louis.
Angélique et le Roy - the third film uses the old French word for King, we would be more accustomed to seeing it 
written as 'Roi'. My immediate view of this film was the uncompromising absence of the central figure - the King. Basically he summons Angélique back to court after the period of mourning he considers adequate has passed - Phillipe dies in the service of his king at the beginning of the film (pre-credits). In an effort to woo Angélique the King appeals to her intellect and demands that she be an ambassadress for a visiting dignitary Bakhtiary Bey and for her efforts she is given back the deeds to the Beautrellis property. There she discovers the building neglected and in a state of disrepair but mysteriously a favourite statue of de Peyrac's has been installed and she finds a bloodied shirt in the master bedroom. Continuing her exploration of the grounds Angélique discovers Savary who is living in the section of the property that would have been Joffrey's laboratory. From this point on, to put it into the vernacular, the films start to 'lose the plot' and deviate from the books. Savary does not give her any hope that Peyrac lives or survived, but as she sleeps, we discover that Peyrac is himself 'haunting' the premises, moving around with ease using underground passages. He can observe unobserved and even prevents an assassination attempt on Angélique's life - the disposal of the corpse is not covered by the film. After a tricky encounter with Bakhtiary Bey from which she is extricated by Rakoczy, Angélique confronts the King who confesses to her that Joffrey survived and to compensate her for her efforts with Bakhtiary Bey, and presumably to keep her on side he also gives her sole rights to the chocolate franchise.
But, he cannot exact a promise from her to stay and having alienated Madame de Montespan and others at Court by exposing their involvement with the Black Arts - Angélique, with Savary in tow, goes in search of Peyrac whom she has now seen with her own eyes on his nocturnal wanderings in the underground passages.
Indomptable Angélique - the fourth film, imaginatively called 'Amongst the Pirates' in Polish and several other languages and known to English-language readers as 'Angélique and the Sultan' or 'In Barbary' (United States)
puzzled me to start with until I realised that this film covers the action that is the first half of the book. It is Angélique's escape from the King and France (she starts off on a Leper Island where she is tracked down by Vivonne - Montespan's younger brother) whom she blackmails to take her on board. Of course she then falls into the hands of d'Escrainville and ends up on the sales blocks of the Slave Market where she is bought for an obscene amount by a person unknown who has outbid not only the Knights of Malta but also the dealer that d'Escrainville had promised her to (for the obligatory cut). Angélique does not seem too concerned by her fate when she is taken away by luxury camel and deposited in a beautiful and romantic spot. It turns out this is the property of the pirate Rescator who turns out to be Joffrey de Peyrac. After a loving reunion the two of them have a spat which results in Joffrey returning to his ship (the real love of his life according to Angélique) and whilst he is in the process of leaving his idyll, Angélique is captured by d'Escrainville and secreted off to Mezzo-Morte. We lose Savary in this film but not before he is able to tell Joffrey what has happened to Angélique. I can now see why several languages called this 'Amongst the Pirates' - most of the action takes place at sea with a host of pirates fighting over themselves for a piece of our eponymous heroine.
Angélique et le Sultan - is the fifth and final instalment and stays partially faithful to the second part of the book. 
We meet Osman Faraji and the Sultan and his harem and the life that was led there - good and bad. For her refusal to capitulate to the Sultan and her assassination attempt on his life Angélique is publicly whipped (all the posters love that scene) and catches the attention of the King of the Slaves - Colin Paturel. After a very fleeting and chance meeting, Colin decides that Angélique will accompany him on his escape across the desert, the majority of which is undertaken on horseback until the horses expire and his male companion is killed by pursuers. As they reach the edge of the desert where it meets the sea, Rescator is waiting to rescue his wife - Colin fades into obscurity. Angélique and Joffrey do, literally, sail off into the sunset after what I think is a really strange remark by Joffrey, that Angélique will be reunited with her sons 'at some future date' taking liberties with the strong maternal instincts she possesses in the books and which make her character so much more complete. I suppose it was felt that as they were to embark on a life together and had two sons, they should not be seen to have forgotten or abandoned them to make the ending so much sweeter (I'm referring to the film ending of course!).
So - having reached this conclusion, it is still difficult to see why these films engender such passion amongst the fans who do not feel strongly towards the books and it is fairly apparent why they do not appeal to the 'purist' readers.
The problem with being 'purist' and I do fall into that category myself, is that you can become a bit narrow in your views. When I first came across the films, because I had only ever seen the first two and because it was so unusual to get a 'series' of films I did come to love them. Many, many years later I saw all five for the first time, by then I had come to the end of the English translations with 'Ghosts' which had not been written in 1968 when I saw 'Merveilleuse' for the first time in Zakopane in Poland. Then even more shocks followed shattering the 'purist' line - there were three as yet untranslated books and we also found out that the translations that we loved so much had been re-formatted and had great chunks missing - so what is the true story of Angélique? Anne Golon will tell us in her re-writes known as l'Intégrale. In the meantime we have to 'make do' with what we have and hope that whether you are a fan of the books or the films or both, you can enjoy what is available to us and for that we have to thank Anne Golon.
This is the magnificent front cover of the LP (long playing) recording of the film score
My only introductions to any of the films was on British television and in Poland in 1968 which happened to be showing Merveilleuse Angélique in a makeshift cinema in the mountains near Zakopane where electricity was powered by a generator which was prone to collapsing whenever the weather conditions became adverse; they duly did so on the night we went, there was a thunderstorm which was circling around and which kept causing the generator to fail. It was a night to remember! Sometime later back in the UK I managed to see the first film on BBC television, I'm not sure whether any of the others were shown at the time. However, presumably in the pursuit of seeing more I was at least lucky to come across 'Les Rois Maudits' instead! And as I am sure you can guess, these have also become great favourites in my book and DVD libraries - not least because of Jean Piat's portrayal of Robert of Artois! Just as an aside, the seventh book of that series was not translated into English .... until 2015!
On sale at Galeries Lafayette - the Angélique saga in two different formats!
This looks like it may be a 'special edition' coffret of the films dedicated more to Michèle Mercier as Angélique than Anne Golon's books
In the 1990s whilst visiting France and searching for the untranslated books I came across some video recordings and here are the covers from those:
The very first boxed set I saw was this version (and the covers can be seen on Harvey's page)
Original Video Box showcasing the beautiful blue dress everyone remembers and the top of the video box set.
The Dutch Version seen here was based on the French template:
Film 1 - Marquise des Anges / Boxed Set showing the spine covers replicating the cover pictures / Film 2 - Merveilleuse Angélique
Film 3 - Angélique et le Roy / Film 4 - Indomptable Angélique / Film 5 - Angélique et le Sultan
A re-issue of the videos came with a whole new set of covers :
Film 1 - Marquise des Anges / Boxed Set (Front only) / Film 2 - Merveilleuse Angélique
Film 3 - Angélique et le Roy / Film 4 - Indomptable Angélique / Film 5 - Angélique et le Sultan
As technology speeds along you would expect that films of this genre may not have a sufficient appeal to the young of the 21st century - how wrong can you be - the films are now, of course available on DVD - I can share at least two variations with you :
I bought this first set as soon as I was able to find a copy - for my sins, having then sold my video versions on ebay, this set was a dud set and the French shop from which I bought them refused to accept responsibility for damaged goods - that's OK, they make a nice sent of coasters (now that I've cleaned all that excess adhesive that spilled over in the duplication process) and, of course, a talking point.
As with DVD technology, so we quickly availed ourselves of the CD format of the film score
The original boxed set featuring the main characters of Angélique on the front and Peyrac on the back with the Film Posters on the spine
The second set that I purchased were not a boxed set but matched the designs now being used on the re-issued set of Polish books :
Michèle Mercier on You Tube
In the meantime Russia has come up with very nicely designed DVD package:
Belgium
From top to bottom Films 1 (Marquise des Angels), 2 (Merveilleuse), 3 (Roy) and 5 (Sultan)
Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia
Foyer publicity images for 'Merveilleuse Angélique' - courtesy of terry-posters.com
Italy
Angélique ravaged by one of the seafaring pirates whilst searching for Joffrey
Joffrey trying to rekindle Angélique's faith in him by showing her he has also rescued the sacred statue from the Beautrellis garden
Joffrey's underwater 'harem' an area not known in the books
Can this be 'happy ever after' for Joffrey and Angélique - somewhat unlikely as there is another film yet to come .....
The Italians do love their alternate film posters as can be seen from the examples above
Poland
l to r 'Angélique, Marquise of the Angels' and 'Angélique and the King'
Two quite bizarre Polish posters l to r 'Indomptable Angélique' and 'Angélique et le Sultan' (translated as 'Angélique amongst the Pirates') (Films 4 & 5) - artist Andrzej Krajewski
Romania
l to r 'Angélique, Marquise of the Angels' and 'Angélique and the King' (Films 1 & 3)
l to r 'Indomptable Angélique' and 'Angélique et le Sultan' (Films 4 & 5)
There are many web-sites with images devoted to the posters based on the films of books by Anne Golon so although I have assigned a page for this purpose, it is designed more for entertainment than any specific reference. Thank you for visiting.
Spain
In the absence of any other Spanish posters (so far anyway) - this parody can be found on Pinterest - I call it a parody because of its 'comic book' style - but more so because of the absence of the major male stars in the foreshortened cast list ........
United Kingdom
A covered up version used for the Irish Cinema - see below for explanatory comments by Tim
This film poster was found by Tim@Tikit who has created an excellent page devoted to the topic and being a Pan Books expert has also provided great shots of the books used in conjunction with this poster and which can be seen below. He also provided an explanation for the 'censored version' of the image I found (above) "Hi Anna, I can see why the poster was covered up, it was for Irish cinemas. I remember going to see a slightly raunchy film in Dublin in the 60's and it was only years later I realised it wasn't 45 minutes long, that was just how much was left after the censors got to it! Thanks again, Tim"
All these stills are taken from the first two films and variations appear on the back of the books right up to 'Angélique in Love' on certain Pan editions - thanks again to Tim@Tikit for the images
There is an absolute paucity of information about Anne Golon and her oeuvre 'Angélique' in the United Kingdom. That extends to the films as well as the books which are well chronicled elsewhere as having never been translated in their entirety. I remember seeing the first of the films on television (probably the BBC) and the second (in reverse order) in Zakopane in Poland on a dark and stormy night when the generator kept failing! I had absolutely no idea that there were any more films beyond these two until I started visiting France on a regular basis to see my friend Anna who bought me a boxed set of videos (yes really) and they, being Pal-Secam only played back in b&w over here in the UK. The poster featured here is for the very first film, so it must have been shown in the cinema, and uses the same strapline as Reveille when they first introduced Angélique to their readers 'Half Angel, Half Devil, Wholly Woman' - the Irish poster also seems to have retained the wording despite the cover-up. I wonder how much of it they censored?
Page refreshed : 11th May 2021 (G)