"Triumph of Love" is proof that not every Comedie-Francaise author who uses cross-dressing disguised courtship like Shakespeare is worth seeing.

Or maybe something was lost in the translation of this adaptation of Marivaux, a Commedia Dell Arte-inspired playwright of whom Brittannica says: "His nuanced feeling and clever wordplay became known as marivaudage."

While Mira Sorvino has fun dangling three mixed-up romances, her pants role wasn't even up to Cherubino in "Marriage of Figaro."

The herky-jerky editing is annoying and just seems to indicate that a lot of takes were needed for each long speech.

Best was Fiona Shaw as the fooled spinster, as well as the costumes.

The glimpses of audience we see and the closing curtain call to wink that this is all artifice doesn't really help.

(originally written 5/29/2002)
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