Shown in France as La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV and previously known in the US as The Rise of Louis XIV, Roberto Rossellini's 1966 TV drama The Taking of Power by Louis XIV sees the director bring his passion for realism and unerring eye for the everyday to this portrait of the early years of the reign of France's "Sun King," and in the process reinvents the costume drama. The death of chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, the construction of the palace at Versailles, the extravagant meals of the royal court: all are recounted with the same meticulous quotidian detail that Rossellini brought to his contemporary portraits of postwar Italy. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV dares to place a larger-than-life figure at the level of mere mortal.

This rarely seen work by one of the masters of Italian neorealist cinema has been announced for a US DVD release by Criterion on 13th January 2008 at the SRP of $29.95. Featuring a new restored 1.33:1 digital transfer and Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 sound, the disc will also have the following extra features:

• Taking Power, a multimedia essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini;
• The Last Utopia, a documentary about Rossellini's late career;
• Video interview with artistic advisor Jean Dominique de la Rochefoucauld and script supervisor Michelle Podroznik;
• Video interview with Renzo Rossellini;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A new essay by critic Colin MacCabe.