Hello everyone.
In this video I'll show you
something incredible, which
defies the imagination
and the laws of physics as
today we are going to interview...
an iPad.
But not just any old iPad, as it
will bring Louis XIV back to life.
Even speaking in the same voice
he would have had in the past.
Let's start!
Louis XIV, wesh wesh,
as they say these days.
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Good day, Mr. Wesh Wesh.
The pleasure is all mine.
Oh yeah right, that's me...
Mr. Wesh Wesh.
When you were a child,
five years old to be exact
you fell into a fountain and almost died.
How did that have an effect on you?
Did you, for example,
develop a fear of water?
Hmm. That fountain story
is a bit of a myth.
I really fell into one of the lakes
in the Palais Royal garden.
and I was fished out
at the last moment.
The gossips said that I developed
rather too much of a dislike for water
including when washing.
Yes, it's true that it has been
said you were a bit mucky...
But, if I'm not mistaken, that
wasn't the first time you almost died.
When you were a kid your
health was a bit fragile.
What with chickenpox, a tumour,
gonorrhoea and typhus...
It's true that my medical record reads
a bit like a horror novel
or thriller, as you call
them these days.
On several occasions, I came
close to losing my life.
But with the miraculous
attention and talent of my doctors
I managed to live a long life.
Don't be so modest. You must have
had a strong constitution.
And what is impressive is how
you managed to live such a long time.
Your reign was one of the longest.
I was king for 72 years,
3 months, and 18 days.
Not bad!
The young Elisabeth II
has reigned for only 66 years, so far.
But she certainly has the
advantage of still being alive.
Anyhow, you were so old when you died
your great-grandson was your successor
Louis XV.
It is said that on your
death bed you told him
"In my life I have
loved war too much".
What did you mean by that?
Can you clarify a bit for us?
Well, it's true that I
told the young Louis
that I had gone to war too often and
liked building things too much.
But, you know, gangrene tends to make
people a bit grumpy.
I see.
So, speaking of dying,
what did you think of communism?
Your epoch is still quite baffling to me.
That's OK. I think we can arrange
an interview with Karl Marx.
He'll take the time to explain his
vision of the world to you.
Your grandfather, Henry IV,
issued the Edict of Nantes
to improve relations between
Catholics and Protestants.
I remember that this gave Protestants
the freedom to pursue their religion
and you, a staunch Catholic,
decided to revoke the Edict.
Can we talk about that?
Well, you often get bad advice.
What can I say?
Vauban advised me not to do that and
maybe I should have listened to him.
Really? So, you are passing the buck
onto your advisers?
So Lolo, how did you like
your life in the royal court?
In the court, with all absolute power
how many people were really sincere?
But I do miss the parties,
the pomp, and the plays.
I really do.
That's a bit
depressing, old boy.
Anyway, for the last few years,
on French TV
there has been a popular series
called Versailles.
Can you say a few words about it?
I worked all my life
so that my reign would
be admired for all time.
So, I was very happy to
hear about such a show
320 years after I died.
I'm sure Canal+ is
happy about that too.
And did you think the series is
an accurate portrayal of your life
or is it all a bit romanticised
to make it a bit spicier?
Well, of course it was!
I spent entire days working
with my advisers.
Who would be interested in that?
In my time we also liked to have fun.
That's not changed much.
Would you please say, into the camera
"Long live the sixth republic!"
Or even better: "My dear comrades,
a good day to you all"
I'd really love you to do that.
It's for my video.
Ha ha. My dear sir, it wouldn't be proper
for the King to do as you ask.
OK.
But, as a gesture of my good will
I reverently bow down
to your followers.
And so we are coming to the
end of the interview.
Would you like to add
anything to finish off?
I must go now, but rest assured
that I hold you in the highest estime
and wish you all the very best.
Thank you, Louis XIV, for spending
a little of your precious
royal time with us.
Until the next time!
With Karl Marx.
Now we come to the second part of
the video and this time I'm not alone.
The iPad has transformed.
Hi!
Why did you create that voice?
Well, we created that voice for
the third and lastest season of Versailles
that will be broadcast on
Canal+ at the end of April.
We noticed that Versailles, the series,
had made quite a stir, in the press
and the fans of the series
were very keen.
Everyone had an opinion about it.
But we realise that the
only person who never
had a voice in the series
who couldn't take part in the debate
because he was dead
was Louis XIV himself.
We recreated his voice to
allow him to express himself .
How on earth did you decide
which tone of voice to use
for someone who had
been dead for 300 years?
We gathered as much
information as we could,
with the help of the
historical adviser of the series
All this data was then sent
to a speech therapist
who helped us
to convert this historical
data into vocal data.
Then this vocal data was used
by Voxygen, experts in voice synthesis
to create the synthesised
voice of Louis XIV.
So, did you have any specific information
on how his voice sounded or...?
The first clue: he was tall,
1.82m or 1.83m.
And the longer your vocal chords
the lower you voice will be.
Of course, this is only a generalisation.
Secondly, he liked to sing
in an opera called Atys
arranged for him
by the composer Lully.
And in Atys, the parts
are for bass voices.
Another clue that he had a low voice.
And, as well as that, we worked
with the paralinguistic data
in the King's medical record.
The King had problems with his mouth
and teeth due to a cleft palate
that made his voice very nasal.
He also had a tendency to
breath through his palate
or through his mouth
because he suffered from fluid
passing through his palate to his larynx.
Very glamorous!
Yep.
So, reconstructing a voice is one thing
but performing it, that's another.
But what about his phrasing,
what was his speaking style?
Everyone has a slightly
different way of speaking.
How did you copy that?
In the same way, based on evidence
from his contemporaries
and these resources suggest
that Louis was not very talkative.
He measured his words carefully.
Perhaps this was a way to
express his status as King.
Secondly, he rarely lost his temper.
Almost never.
He saved that for his private life.
So when he spoke he
didn't raise his voice.
His voice was always rather
bland and unemotional.
Everyone realises that this, after all,
is just an interpretation
and the team are aware of this?
Of course, it's an interpretation
but, to recreate the voice
exactly we'd need Louis XIV's body
and as you know
his body vanished after the Revolution.
We'd have to scan his vocal chords
to get the voice exactly right.
So yes, what we did is an interpretation,
based on the information we have
or data, as we call it today.
As you will have noticed in
the first part of the video
we followed a script
to conduct the interview.
There are a certain number
of pre-recorded responses
which are relevant to
a wide range of questions.
Exactly. There are about 100
responses on a wide range of topics
that are relevant to the
lifetime of Louis but also to our times.
So now people can have
a discussion on the Internet
using Louis XIVs Twitter account.
So, in manner of speaking,
Louis XIV has been brought back to life
to give his opinion on the series
and also on the world
in which we now all live
with all its craziness.
It's a real blast to
follow him on Twitter.
It certainly is, yeah!
These is no shortage of questions
that he can answer.
- Thanks very much!
- Thank you!
Thanks for watching my video.
As you will have realised, this is a
production in collaboration with Canal+
for the start of season
three of Versailles
which takes us back to
life in the court of Louis XIV.
If you want to ask him some questions
as I just did
you can now do it on Twitter.
The account name is @Louis XIV_CANAL
This would be great opportunity
to have some fun and
to test the limitations
of the application.
So go and try it!
I'd like to give special thanks
to the Chateau de Chamarande
who welcomed us here to
record the interview.
It was really kind of them.
If you have the chance to
visit the castle and its grounds
it's situated to the
south of Paris in l'Essone.
It's a great place to visit.
Thanks to everyone for watching.
Don't forget to give us a
thumbs up, like and share.
We'll see you again very
soon for another historical video.
Bye!