Les adieux à la reine

Plot synopsis:
In 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, the court at the Palace of Versailles still live their routines, relatively unconcerned by the increasing turmoil in Paris a mere twenty miles away. The routines are seen through the eyes of the young Sidonie Laborde, who serves Queen Marie Antoinette.
When news about the storming of the Bastille reaches the Court, most aristocrats and servants desert the Palace and abandon the Royal Family, fearing that the government is falling. But Sidonie, a true believer in the monarchy, refuses to flee. She feels secure under the protection of the Royal Family. She does not know these are the last three days she will spend by the Queen's side.
The Queen orders Sidonie to disguise herself as Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac, and serve as bait so that the latter can safely flee to Switzerland. This Sidonie does, despite a prior warning from one of the Queen's ladies in waiting. Sidonie is stripped naked and then redressed in a green gown. The coach carrying Sidonie is also occupied by the real Duchess and her husband, dressed as her servants. They treat her with disdain during the journey but she plays her role convincingly enough to enable the party to safely cross the border. As the film ends, she remarks that she has no connections other than her position as reader to the Queen, and soon she will be a nobody.

Tags: violence

Review:
Farewell, My Queen is a French film that covers three days in the life of servant Sidonie.
A different take on the oft-told story of Marie Antoinette and the storming of the Bastille, this French film focuses on the difficult behind-the-scenes life at Versailles.
The film does a credible job of showing the majestic costumes and lavish clothes and settings where Marie Antoinette lives, but at the same time it shows the dark and dingy place where Sidonie eats and sleeps and basically calls home.
Written and directed by Benoît Jacquot and based on the novel by Chantal Thomas, Farewell, My Queen explores the death throes of the French monarchy over a period of three days in July, 1789.
Set in the Palace of Versailles at the beginning of the French Revolution, Sidonie (Lea Seydoux), known as the reader for Queen Marie-Antoinette (Diane Kruger), is responsible for selecting books and reading them aloud to the queen.
Because of her closeness to the monarch, she is able to act as a spy, securing information about events taking place inside and outside the palace, pressing selected servants for information, and eavesdropping on conversations to gather the most up-to-date gossip to pass along to Marie.The film is seen from Sidonie's point of view, a vantage point that illuminates the sharp social divisions inside the palace with the servants living in crowded rat-infested quarters, and the royals dwelling in opulent accommodations.
Kruger portrays Marie-Antoinette as sensual and hedonistic and there is a hint of more than Platonism in the way she interacts with both Sidonie and the Duchess de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen), a relationship that tests Sidonie's loyalty.On the morning of July 15th, news spreads rapidly that the king had been awakened at two in the morning.
When the King travels to Paris and the Queen decides against an escape to Metz, an aura of inevitably descends on the Palace and the nobles begin to abandon ship, competing for places on the coaches seeking a safe haven.Antoinette makes every effort to continue with business as usual, looking at magazines to admire new styles and colors for the coming season, paying scant attention to the fact that her name is number one in a list of 300 targets for the guillotine.
Even though Farewell, My Queen is historically questionable and may hold us at arms length emotionally, it provides a fresh view of events that we know about only from history books or stuffy costume dramas.Jacquot captures the authenticity of time and place and also the human side of the power struggle.
Farewell, My Queen is a sumptuous visual treat and faux-historical romp from French writer and director Benoit Jacquot.Set mainly in Versailles over three days as the Bastille is stormed and the French Revolution gains unstoppable momentum, this is a lavish production with superb costume design and sets.Shown mainly from the point of view of the servants to the royals and aristocrats, the film makes good use of France's palatial architecture and neatly shows the difference in the opulence of the super rich compared to the squalid conditions of their largely loyal and deferential lackeys.
The film is beautifully shot, both inside and out, and allows the audience to feel they are being given a personal guided tour of one of France's greatest museums loaded with fine art and antiques.The story focuses on seduction and loyalty between protagonists within the palace and their reaction to the unfolding history which is mainly off-screen.
Queen Marie Antoninette (Diane Kruger) is hold up at Château de Versailles with her court and her book reader (Léa Seydoux).
Sidonie knows which servants to press for info, whose palms need greasing, and in which particular dark corner of the room to stand to eavesdrop on conversations to acquire the most up to date gossip on how the queen is feeling, who woke the King up in the middle of the night, and how close the revolutionaries are getting to the outside walls.Unfortunately, what sounds like deep palace intrigue and an interesting history lesson in the French Revolution mostly lands with a thud on screen.
Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), the Queen of France, however, has escapism on her mind – she sits in bed, skim-reading the latest fashion pages.In this task, she is aided by a number of ladies-in-waiting and her reader, Sidonie Laborde (Lea Seydoux).
Brilliantly directed by the Benoit Jacquot (who also co-wrote the much less impressive script) and starring Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette and Lea Seydoux, who plays one of the Queen's readers named Sidonie Laborde, and is also the protagonist of this film (for some reason) "Farewell, My Queen" is advertised as the story of the last days of Marie Antoinette, but it's more like the somewhat muted story of the two months before the "last days" of Marie Antoinette.
So, even though "Farewell, My Queen" is a better movie than Sofia Coppola's ill advised, indie rock inspired, "Marie Antoinette", due to the faux-final-days story structure, in conjunction with the fact that "Farewell, My Queen" uses Marie Antoinette as a side character, telling the story from the point of view of Sidonie Laborde (a nobody) this is a film which may have many audiences scratching their heads as to why the need to show this particular moment in the life of Marie Antoinette.As I alluded to above, "Farewell My Queen" chronicles a miniscule portion in time during the last months of Marie Antoinette's reign.
What I mean by this is there are almost no visuals of the actual Revolution, plus (and more importantly) we don't actually get to witness the final days of Marie Antoinette's life simply because "Farewell, My Queen" curiously plays out through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting.
I mean, there are some scenes which do attempt to create a somewhat intriguing love story, an aspect which must be fully accredited to some fantastic mood setting by Jacquot, but in the same vein, this film never rises above said simplistic love story.Side Note: Another issue many audiences will likely come across is how frivolously "Farewell, My Queen" throws its viewers right into the deep end of this story, with little exposition.
In fact, the greatest individual flaw which hinders "Farewell, My Queen" will be seen in the audiences immediate realization that neither Jacquot's visuals or the engaging performances (which I will speak about later) are going to give those not formally versed in the players of the French Revolution and the fall of Versailles, the background information they may desperately desire, as this film half-introduces more and more characters of seeming importance.
So, do yourself a favor, if you are going to see "Farewell, My Queen" (at the very least) peruse the Marie Antoinette Wiki page before going to see this film.With that said, the visuals (the set design in conjunction with the director) are somewhat breathtaking at times, due to Jacquot making some very brave directorial choices, including tons of long takes which trail behind characters as they weave in and out of crowds, giving audiences an intimate feeling of the atmosphere of late 1700's France, and a few beautifully constructed shots of the landscapes.
But even if Kruger's interpretation of Antoinette is one of the best I've ever seen and Seydoux is so captivating to watch as she effortlessly takes control of the movie every time she is on screen, there is simply not enough in the story or the writing to give reasoning to the eccentric behavior or motives behind the actions of Marie Antoinette or (more importantly) give a reason as to why Sidonie is so infatuated with her.
So, even though, in the latter half of the film (more than an hour in) Jacquot does create an atmosphere which allows these characters to somewhat blossom, many will find it hard to care about a Marie Antoinette story that contains no beheadings.Final Thought: Based on a "last days" plot which attempts to imitate a much better film like "Downfall", even with some spectacular direction and two engaging female performances, "Farewell, My Queen" is nothing more than this year's "My Week With Marilyn", telling a story which focuses on characters nobody really cares about, rather than simply creating a storyline around the life/last days of (in this case) Marie Antoinette.
In fact I was very annoyed and mad about it because it is inexcusable to see such a careless handling of such an interesting and disrupted character like the last French Queen.Actually I honestly am quite surprised as to how few movies actually give justice to the real historical personality and how few details of her biography are told.
It tells the story about a French servant and seamstress who lives in a room at the Palace of Versailles in France with a friend named Alice.Distinctly and precisely directed by French filmmaker Benoït Jacquot, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated by and mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a gripping portrayal of a person who before the establishment of the French National Assembly, the March on Versailles, a speech by a French attorney named Maxmilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794) where he articulated a transcending motto which may have appeased the ingrained and unwavering advocates of total equality by adding a word which in all fairness is just as significant and during the beginning of the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the Great Fear when an announcement regarding citizens of the then Kingdom of France (843-1792) who were to be guillotined for the sake of a reform was announced, aspires to serve a Queen of Austrian origins named Marie-Antoinette Joséphe Jeanne de Habsbourg-Lorraine (1755-1793).
While notable for its atmospheric milieu depictions, majestically cinematic cinematography by cinematographer Romain Winding, production design by production designer Katia Wyszkop and costume design by costume designer Christian Gasc, this character-driven and dialog-driven story about famine, monarchy, social insurrection and a pivotal time in French history when present political ideologies were being developed and where a royal daughter, sister, wife and mother who did not chose to be a royalist is imprisoned by her passions and a person who isn't of the aristocracy plays on her mistress' passion, using herself as an instrument, to gain her objective, depicts an enigmatic study of character and contains a great and timely score by composer Bruno Coulais.This historic and understatedly romantic silent dance of glances within interior surroundings which is set in the late 18th century in France during the reign of King Louis-Auguste XVI (1754-1793) and where a reader understands whom she has to reach to get to where she is headed, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, rhythmic continuity, comment by Marie-Antoinette: "Have you ever been attracted?" and the reverent acting performances by French actress Léa Seydoux, German actress Diane Krüger and French actress Julie-Marie Parmentier.
I liked Diane Kruger as Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France.
Most viewers I'm sure will find the "climax" to the main thread regarding Sidonie's final personally dangerous task for her queen, anticlimactic, rather than suspenseful as it should have been.Overall, though well-acted and of marginal interest, Farewell My Queen is a pretty insignificant film, set amongst one of the most significant periods of European history.
Benoît Jacquot's Berlin Golden Bear contender in 2012, FAREWELL, MY QUEEN taps into a beguiling re-imagination of Marie Antoinette's (Kruger) impassioned affinity with Gabrielle de Polastron, duchess de Polignac (Ledoyen), on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, without delving into more scandalously graphic details of their lesbian relationship, and unlike Sofia Coppola's palatially sumptuous MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006), Jacquot complies to Chantal Thomas' source novel and the film narrates entirely from the viewpoint of the Queen's young servant Sidonie Laborde (Seydoux), who often reads for her, which signifies that preponderantly viewers are invited to get a peep of the back rooms of Palace of Versailles for a change.Needless to say, the royal mise-en-scène has its sublime allure to those addicted to the period grandeur, often in passing glimpses wherever Sidonie drifts around in her fretful steps, this proves to be a cunningly economical stratagem of shifting the focus to the characters' mood swings when an impending uprising is in the pipeline.
When Marie Antoinette bestows her the ultimate mission, it hits her like a sledgehammer, inwardly, she might have a faintest hope that Marie Antoinette would indulge her like a forbidden fruit, in a more peaceful time, maybe, but not at that crunch, when monarchy is hanging by a thread, all she can do is to silently accept her fate as an honored decoy, the last thing she could ever do for her Queen, then for the first time in her life, she wallows in her moment of superiority, however facile and ominous it is, and the story just ends there, when she forever departs from Marie Antoinette's life, she, Sidonie Laborde, becomes a nobody.Admittedly, the film feels foreshortened, even myopic when considering such a sensational commotion is undergoing, there must be something more theatrically pressing can be projected on the screen (even Marie Antoinette's own story has many colorful facets), but in this unapologetically feminist reconstruction, Jacquot gallantly attempts to deconstruct the undertow of this particular situation (from a servant's perspective) fraught with attraction, disaffection, perturbation and self-deception, exclusively among women from different strata.Léa Seydoux gives a patchy incarnation of Sidonie, often casts her customarily inscrutable gaze masked with an air of stuck-up insouciance to the camera, but short in supply when a young maiden's ingenuousness is demanded, she seems more impenetrable than all her more worldly seniors, which considerably deflects Sidonie from being a queen-stuck virgin as she is.
This film is a wonderful study of what the last days of the French royalty in Versailles, particularly of the way, Marie Antoinette behaved and delivered her commands.
"Farewell, My Queen," a dramatized account of the relationship between Marie Antoinette and her personal reader in 1789 Paris, so frequently comes within a hair's breadth of being a salacious lesbian melodrama that one wonders why director/co-writer Benoît Jacquot didn't go all out and actually make it that way.
When it doesn't tease us with longing stares, burning confidences, impassioned tears, and even an instance or two of full-frontal voluptuousness, it drags us, at times kicking and screaming, through a backstage labyrinth of wild rumor, juicy gossip, and dangerous political tidings, the French Revolution inching ever closer to the sheltered world of Versailles.Adapted from the novel by Chantal Thomas, the film is told from the point of view of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux), a Lady in Waiting for Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), who assigns her to read passages from her favorite stories, mostly plays.
In this movie, it's mostly based on during the French revolution year with Léa Seydoux as the Queen Marie Antoinette's reader.
Diane Kruger gives us one of the more believable portrayals of Queen Marie Antoinette in recent times.
But the film goes further, probably in line with the recent trend among historians to view Queen Marie Antoinette in a more positive light.One final note about the supposed pornographic nature of some scenes, pointed out in the reviews of others (mostly Americans); there is nudity, a kiss, and some longing stares.
Les adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen) is a luxurious, visually stunning film about the moments before the citizens of France stormed the Bastille and headed for Versailles.
This film is more about the manner in which Marie Antoinette functioned as a queen and as a woman with needs than it is about a precise description of what was occurring outside the palace walls.In July 1789, the French Revolution is forming and gaining momentum.
Seemingly oblivious to the people of France, at the Château de Versailles, King Louis XVI (Xavier Beauvois), Queen Marie-Antoinette (Diane Kruger) and their courtiers keep on living their usual carefree lives.
To pass her time away when the Duchess is not available for assignations, Marie fills her hours looking at materials, fashion books, and she has a lady in waiting reader - Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux) - read stories to her.
Farewell, My Queen is relaying on Diane Kruger to make the film good.
"Farewell, My Queen another story about Marie-Antoinette this time with a great performance by Diane Kruger as the women herself"Marie-Antoinette is one of the most hated women in all history and once again she appears on the screen.
This film tells the story of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux) a book reader to the queen of France Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), over the course of three days we see into the running of the palace and how the royals hold complete power until the Bastillle is hit by the rebellion of the time.
The costumes and sets are very well suited to the time period and they way they move also is great to see that the crew behind the film took to time and effort that goes into a period piece like this.Léa Seydoux plays the main women of this tale and she gives a fine performance but she is not allowed to emote which is what the character had to do because she was a lower class worker and that is why even though she is in almost every scene she does not get to stand out as others, also she mostly comforts people feeling pain.
In her final scene we see the true villainies of Marie as she sacrifices her book reader in order to save her lover which is something a normal nice women would do but an evil one would do it.The film overall as some great production displayed mainly in it'costume but the fact the main character is not interesting is a major problem with the film but it is made better every time Diane is one the screen making the film the better to watch.MOVIE GRADE: C (MVP: Diane Kruger).