ADIEUX A LA REINE, Les/ FAREWELL MY QUEEN

France, 2012, 100 minutes, Colour.
Lea Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyen, Michel Robin.
Directed by Benoit Jacquot.

There has been a long cinematic fascination with the French Revolution, fostered through the decades with film versions of A Tale of Two Cities. Fascination too with Marie Antoinette. In 1938, there was a lavish period drama with Norma Shearer. Joely Richardson portrayed her in the melodrama, The Affair of the Necklace. In 2006, a kind of sumptuous pop-portrait with Kirsten Dunst. Now the French have Marie Antoinette make a comeback in Farewell, My Queen. It is both lavish and sumptuous and has Diane Kruger as the ill-fated queen.
However, the film is not principally about the queen. It is about her reader, Sidonie, played by Lea Seydoux, who is loyal to the queen, but finds herself in the middle of the court intrigues and the rumblings of the Revolution. She is ambitious, diligent and discreet, but not against being part of the sexual goings on in Versailles. The person who is involved is the new favourite of the queen, the glamorous countess Gabrielle, played by Virginie Ledoyen, certainly not a favourite with Sidonie, and hated by the populace.

In fact, the film takes place over the fateful July 1789 days which lead to the storming of the Bastille, the rising up against Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their plans to flee Paris. The film is interesting in showing the different reactions of royalty and courtiers alike faced with the revolt and the uncertainties of what they should do – and of what is going to happen to them. A list has been made of those who are to be guillotined. Plans have to be made for escape. Audiences know that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI do not escape, but the climax of the film is a journey made by Sidonie, her loyal farewell to the queen.

This is not a revolutionary action show. Rather, it is an enclosed drama of a decadent court collapsing and soon to be destroyed.

1. The French revolution? Events, personalities, causes, responses?

2. Marie- Antoinette, her Austrian background and seen as an alien, her marriage to Louis the 16th, popular dislike, her ultimate fate?

3. A sumptuous film, the decor, the palace of Versailles, interiors and exteriors, costumes, the lavish atmosphere? The musical score?

4. The title, the tone? Audience knowledge of and attitude towards Marie-Antoinette? Towards Louis 16th? The revolution?

5. The film taking place over a few days, July 1789? The drama outside the walls, the Bastille? Inside the palace, the uncertainty? The list for execution? Escape?

6. The focus on Sindonie, her background, personality, her life before the court, at the court, Madame Compan, the rules and routines of the court, the role of the queen, her likes and dislikes, whims? Sindonie as loyal, the queen’s reader, the selection of books, the erratic choices and moods, the presence of Gabrielle, the queen’s favorite, Sindonie’s reaction? The rower in the gondola, her attraction, the sexual encounter and its being interrupted? Part of the court? Part of the decadence? Her mission, following orders? Her friendship with the old man, the discussions, providing him with food and drink, his advice to her? The queen packing, the plan for the escape, the books? The decision to send Gabrielle away? Sindonie and her impersonating the queen, in the coach, the documents, her being allowed to pass, her future?

7. The character of the queen, her beauty, lonely, her extravagance, clothes and materials, food, the books, her favoring Sindonie, the control of Madame Campan, her favoring Gabrielle, the sexual overtones? The role of the king, meetings, the political attitudes, the ruthlessness, the intention to flee to Germany, her packing, the decision to stay? Her fate?

8. Gabrielle and her husband, ambitions, place in the court, favourite of the queen, the relationship, the queen’s passion? Gabrielle being on the list for execution? The queen wanting her to escape? Sindonie and her help?

9. Madame Campan and the running of the queen’s household, her fate?

10. The few appearances the king, his character, facing the revolution, his prime minister?

11. The portrait of the courtiers, the adulation of the king and queen, the rulers, their being on the lists?

12. The old man, his role in the court, his work, keeping the archives, his friendship with Sindonie, the meal, the drink, the uncertainty of his future?

13. The film studying the psychology of those at the court? Appreciating the events? Understanding the revolutionaries?

14. The audience immersed for a short time in a significant historical era?