Overview
Marie Antoinette is a household name — her story is known by both history buffs and those who simply like Kirsten Dunst, or cake more than bread. What separates the depiction of the storming of the Bastille inside Versailles in Farewell My Queen is the way it is told. What we see in Benoît Jacquot’s depiction of the events is a representation that seems closer to the reality than previous renderings of those famous four days.
To start, the casting of Diane Kruger as Antoinette is fitting — aged 34 (Dunst was roughly a decade younger) when the film was shot, she was the same age as Antoinette in her time of reign and while Kruger is German to Antoinette's Austrian, she speaks fluent French. Moreover, Kruger brilliantly executes the vulnerable, bubbly, overwhelmed and emotional nature for which Antoinette has come to be remembered.
However, the stand out performance in the film is that of Léa Seydoux who plays Sidonie, the queen’s reader and the protagonist of the piece. We see the queen and Versailles through her eyes, rather than from the standpoint of the royals or the revolutionary people, as is often the case. From this unorthodox vantage point we see devotion, jealousy of Antoinette’s love for Gabrielle de Polignac and fear for her queen, with each emotion and reaction played out with an almost real time quality. While Sidonie embodies a charming innocence, she also has a sheer lack of respect for the typical order of things, that coupled with the close up use of the camera, instantly puts the viewer directly into her mind.
For those who don’t know the story of Bastille Day and the last queen of France, the story might leave you wanting more, as the main events are left untouched. We don’t see the storming of the Bastille, nor death played out onscreen. We are left with an unfinished telling of history, but a somewhat richer experience of the events.
Image courtesy of www.affrenchfilmfestival.org