Running time: 120 minutes . . . .

AN intense firebrand, France's Romain Duris does light-weight comedy too. Here he dons buck teeth and a wig to play 17th century French comedian/playwright Moliere.

Written and directed by Laurent Tiard, it recalls Shakespeare in Love . . . a fictional reworking of a period from the playwright's life, set in a time before he found fame.

But this breezy French farce is a delight. Moliere, in serious debt, takes employment at the house of a wealthy, but bone-headed mercantile Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini). Jourdain plans to seduce a young widow and has written a play for her, but he requires Moliere's help to pull it off. This must be kept hidden from Jourdain's wife Elmire (Laura Morante), so Moliere poses as a priest called Monsieur Tartuffe (a nod to one of Moliere's own plays).

But things get very complicated: particularly when Moliere begins sleeping with the boss's wife. The farce skittles along nicely among the plush backdrops.