French Canadian actor François Arnaud is best known to frock flick fans as consummate bad boy Cesare Borgia in the fabulous miniseries The Borgias. And while there was a wealth of costuming content in that one show alone, Arnaud hasn’t done too many more period flicks since then, which is a damn tragedy because my man looks good in a codpiece. So, today, we are going to enjoy what little he has contributed to the historical movie fantasy boyfriend list because Trystan always says “three things make a post,” and he has FOUR WHOLE FROCK FLICKS to his name.
The Borgias (2011-2013)
How I know I’m not dead sexually: This gif.
THAT SWALLOW.
Copperhead (2013)
The goofy smile is the best thing ever.
The Girl King (2015)
Arnaud plays Karl Gustav, later Karl X Gustav, cousin and heir to Queen Christina of Sweden.
X Company (2015-2017)
A Canadian miniseries set during World War II, Arnaud plays Rene Villiers, one of the recruits sent to secret training Camp X near Toronto.
I love a guy in high-waisted trousers, suspenders, and a short tie.
And that’s all there is! Hopefully there will be more frock flicks from François Arnaud in the future so we can update this list.
What’s your favorite François Arnaud historical role and why is it Cesare Borgia?
X Company. I grew up in WWII; I don’t think I’d have survived childhood in the Borgia court.
Man, I really need to find a way to see X Company. It has Jack Laskey and Tom Brittney and Lewis Rainer and now this guy??? That’s not just a dish, that’s the whole buffet.
X Company is a very much fictionalized account of a very interesting bit of Canadian history (to whit: “Trainees at the camp learned sabotage techniques, subversion, intelligence gathering, lock picking, explosives training, radio communications, encode/decode, recruiting techniques for partisans, the art of silent killing and unarmed combat. Communication training, including Morse code, was also provided. The existence of the camp was kept such a secret that even Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was unaware of its full purpose.”)
But for a mid-budget CBC show they pulled off some very lovely costumes, especially for Evelyne Brochu, who plays the team’s leader Aurora Luft. For Canadians (or those with a VPN), all three seasons are still available for viewing on the CBC website.
Thanks for that tip! It worked (from France)
HELL YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Lord, this man is fine. The top GIF is my life. I’ve been drooling over him since The Borgias. And definitely, my fave of his FrockFlick characters is Cesare Borgia. In fact, watching him in that show confirmed something I’d suspected but wasn’t sure of until then: Men’s contemporary clothing is just so meh…. Give me a man dressed in clothes from almost any other era, and I’m interested (at least). Back to Francois Arnaud, on top of being gorgeous, the man is a very good actor. I would LOVE to see him in more FrockFlick roles.
It’s too bad ‘The Borgias’ didn’t get a fourth season. It would have been interesting to see what happened as their power fell apart.
Oof I’d take his smouldering dark looks over Aidan Turner’s any day. A goofy smile goes a long, long way!
Not historical, but I loved him in Midnight, TX. He’s definitely got a presence.
Wow. I have never seen the Borgias but I know enough about it to know the costumes are good, and that one gif may just have convinced me to see it :D
Runs around in an ace flag cape, bearing a platter of cake For me and everyone else uninterested in topless Arnaud!
I…. think he should play Ioan Gruffudd’s son in… something.
anything.
yes, yes, that would do.
Brothers would probably be more fitting unless Ioan was meant to be an impossibly young dad (or the storyline was timeshifted like how Ben Barnes played the younger version of Charlie Cox’s dad in Stardust.)
Hmm, he is a dish. But Sean Harris always caught and held my attention. Any chance of MCM for him? He’s so delightfully grimy!
It is unfair how handsome this man is, and while I’ve only seen him in The Borgia’s, a pretty fantastic actor also. That Borgia meme is very relatable