The film was a major hit across Continental Europe, and in 1967 was distributed in Britain. It was followed by four sequels starting with Marvelous Angelique.[2]
In mid-17th century France, young Louis XIV is struggling for his throne, beggars and thieves haunt Paris and brigands roam the countryside. Fifth child of an impoverished country nobleman, Angélique de Sancé de Monteloup grows up in the Poitou marshlands. Her logical destiny would be to marry a poor country nobleman, have children and spend her life fighting for a meagre subsistence. Destiny has other plans in store for her. At 17, on returning from her education in a convent, she finds herself betrothed to the rich count Jeoffrey de Peyrac (Jeoffrey Comte de Peyrac de Morens, Lord of Toulouse), 12 years her senior, lame, scarred and reputed to be a wizard. For the sake of her family, Angélique reluctantly agrees to the match but refuses the advances of her husband. Peyrac respects her decision and does not pursue his claim to conjugal rights, wishing rather to seduce than use force.
With the passing of months, Angélique discovers the talents and virtues of her remarkable husband: scientist, musician, philosopher; and to her surprise falls passionately in love with him. But Jeoffrey's unusual way of life is threatened by the ambitions of the Archbishop of Toulouse, and soon arouses the jealousy of the young king himself, Louis XIV. Jeoffrey is arrested and charged with sorcery. Angélique will single-handedly take on the might of the royal court and, survive murder and poison attempts on herself in a supreme effort to save Jeoffrey from the stake, to no avail. Instinctively, her whole being intent on revenge and her determination to survive, Angélique, alone and desperate, plunges into the darkness of the Paris underworld.
Michèle Mercier recalled she had a clause added to her contract not to appear frontally naked on camera. "For the bath scene of the wedding night, I had put plaster on the point of my breasts and a plastic triangle at the bottom. Once in the water, panic, everything came off! I redid the scene. Me, a pharmacist's daughter, I know all about plasters!"-Mercier said.[3]
In France, the film sold 2,958,684 tickets, making it one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1964 in the country.[4] This was equivalent to an estimated $1.83 million in gross revenue.[a] It was also the second top-grossing film of the year in West Germany,[5] where it sold 6,471,800 tickets and grossed €7,577,500[6] ($7.94 million). It was also the year's fifth top-grossing film in Italy with 5.442 million ticket sales.[5] In Spain, the film sold 211,941 tickets upon release in 1964.[7]
In the Soviet Union, the film sold 44.1 million tickets upon release in 1969,[7] equivalent to estimated $12.3 million in gross revenue.[a] It was the year's second highest-grossing foreign film in the Soviet Union (after the Indian Bollywood film Mamta), and the 31st highest-grossing foreign film ever in the country.[8] In Poland, it did very well, selling millions of tickets, making it one of thirteen high-grossing foreign films in the country in 1968.[9]
In total, the film sold more than 60,184,425 tickets worldwide, grossing an estimated $22.1 million in France, Germany and the Soviet Union.
