Jean Rollin
Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil (3 November 193815 December 2010) was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his work in the fantastique genre.
Michel Poncet de La Rivière
In his youth, before he became famous as an orator, Michel devoted himself to poetry with some success. As an orator, he was considered to be one of the best, along with Jean Baptiste Massillon and Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet. He earned great praise for two speeches he made at the Court – one of them in 1715 during Lent and the other in 1722 for the coronation of King Louis XV – but Saint-Simon felt that La Rivière's skills as an orator were not the equal of these important occasions. A year later, in 1723, his fortunes came to a sudden end. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the Regent of France, had just died. His death caused the clergy considerable distress because, in spite his notoriously dissolute lifestyle, his funeral oration would have to be delivered to the pleasure and satisfaction of the King and his Court. La Rivière was chosen for this job. But, during the funeral, when he came to the matter of the salvation of the Duke’s soul, the Bishop blurted, ""Je crains; mais j'espere" [ I fear but I hope ]". These words were enough to banish him from the Court. However, his oration remains as one of the best funeral sermons ever written in the French language. In fact, d'Alembert declared, ""Quand l'évêque d'Angers n'eût écrit que ce peu de mots en toute sa vie, il ne devrait pas être placé dans la classe des orateurs ordinaires" [ If the Bishop of Angers had not written these few words, he would be counted only among the ordinary orators ]." It is notable for the following passage: