J'AI INTERVIEWÉ LOUIS XIV !

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!