Moliere

While the details of 17th-century French dramatist Moliere's life aren't as vague as those of William Shakespeare's, there's still plenty of room for fanciful speculation. For example, biographers concur that on August 2, 1645, the still-struggling Moliere was briefly jailed for nonpayment of debts, and that a month later he rejoined his theater troupe for a 13-year tour of the provinces. The conceit driving this fluffy period comedy is that during those few summer weeks, while in the employ of a ridiculous bourgeois patron, Moliere encountered the comical figures and situations he later mined in his greatest plays.

Paris, 1645: Unable to pay the 145 pounds...