Farewell, My Queen [Blu-ray]

Director: Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot

Overview

Director Beno?t Jacquot adapted Chantal Thomas' bestselling novel examining the genesis of the French Revolution as witnessed from the perspective of the servants closest to Marie Antoinette. July 1789: Versailles. As the people of France rise up against King Louie XVI (Xavier Beauvois), the frightened sovereigns begin plotting their escape. Sidonie Laborde (L?a Seydoux) is the Queen's reader, and as such enjoys the many lavish privileges of being in the monarch's entourage. She sees herself as an extended member of the royal family, so when Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger) requests that Sidonie don the Queen's clothing and flee in her carriage, the na?ve servant views it as a tremendous honor. Meanwhile, the Queen herself plots to escape the palace under the cover of darkness, leaving her most loyal servant at the mercy of the raging mob.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/15/2013
UPC:	0741952738190
Original Release:	2012
Rating:	R
Source:	Cohen Media Group
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	23,468

Special Features

On-Set Interviews; Interview with Benoit Jacqout; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Léa Seydoux	Sidonie Laborde
Diane Kruger	Marie-Antoinette
Virginie Ledoyen	Gabrielle de Polignac
Xavier Beauvois	Louis XVI
Noémie Lvovsky	Madame Campan
Michel Robin	Jacob Nicolas Moreau
Julie-Marie Parmentier	Honorine
Lolita Chammah	Louison
Vladimir Consigny	Paolo
Dominique Reymond	Actor
Anne Benoît	Rose Bertin
Hervé Pierre	l'abbé Hérissé
Aladin Reibel	Actor
Jacques Nolot	Actor
Jacques Herlin	Actor
Martine Chevallier	Actor
Jacques Boudet	Actor
Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc	Actor
Jean-Marc Stehlé	Actor
Serge Renko	Actor
Gilles David	Actor
Pierre Rochefort	Actor
Rodolphe Conge	Actor
Grégory Gadebois	Actor
Francis Leplay	Actor
Yves Penay	Actor
Sonia Joubert	Actor
Tibo	Actor
Pierre Berriau	Actor
Pascal Vannson	Actor
Maurice Delaistier	Actor
Emmanuelle Bougerol	Actor
Véronique Nordey	Actor
Jean-Pierre Guerin	Actor
Pascaline Girardot	Actor
Bruno Coulais	Composer
Marthe Caufman	La domestique Alice

Technical Credits

Gilles Taurand

Benoît Jacquot

Gilles Taurand	Screenwriter
Kristina Larsen	Producer
Pedro Uriol	Producer
Christophe Valette	Executive Producer,Producer
Brigitte Taillandier	Sound/Sound Designer
Antoinette Boulat	Casting
Marie-Jeanne Pascal	Production Manager
Olivier Goinard	Sound Mixer,Sound Effects
Antoine Santana	Assistant Director
Francis Wargnier	Sound Editor
Benoît Jacquot	Director,Screenwriter
Jean-Pierre Guérin	Producer
Thomas Saignes	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The chronicle of ill-fated French monarch Marie Antoinette has been recounted and replayed so often and in so many forms that it practically demands an innovative approach -- or, better yet, fresh themes drawn from the depths of the story -- to transcend its familiarities and reestablish its own vitality. Benoit Jacquot's Farewell, My Queen -- a costume drama set among the Gallic monarchy during the first three days of the French Revolution -- attempts to give this 18th century history lesson a revisionist look with a couple of unusual additions. While conceptually interesting on a surface level, these elements don't fully succeed at elevating this picture from a competent and well-mounted period drama into the masterpiece that Jacquot was obviously hoping for. The movie's first stab at distinction is also its broadest. Per the approach of Chantal Thomas's 2002 source novel, Jacquot avoids placing Antoinette (Diane Kruger) center stage, and instead filters the tale through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux), a young servant girl hired to be the queen's reader. The second unique inclusion in the picture is a lesbian romance between Marie and a gorgeous young Duchess (Virginie Ledoyen). The servant perspective could ostensibly be fascinating if Jacquot and his co-scenarist, Gilles Taurant, established the character of Sidonie with adequate depth. Sadly, this doesn't happen. She remains a cipher -- infuriatingly aloof and cryptic. The filmmakers do bring off her obvious affection for the queen, and Seydoux keeps transcending her character's laconic dialogue and enigmatic motivations by giving us little flickers of insight into Sidonie's emotions, such as a beautiful moment when her eyes well up with tears in the queen's presence. But the film tips a hand to its crippling central weakness with one scene where another character actually limns Sidonie's opacity. "You tell us nothing [about you]…after four years [here]…I'm told nothing [about you]. I know nothing about you." To be sure, the picture does draw one strength by assuming Sidonie's perspective -- an unusual one. For a time, Jacquot uses her naiveté and innocence to revel in the confusion and chaos associated with the first several days of the revolution. But even if this onscreen pandemonium is mildly diverting, and fully convincing as docudrama, it can't overcome the obliqueness of the central character. The sapphic components of the picture are even less successful. At first, it's moderately curious to see two sexy women burning for one another beneath garish 18th century European robes and powdered headdresses, and it's hard to deny the chemistry between Kruger and Ledoyen, but the relationship lacks some added element of depth that would put the affair under an audience microscope. This omission represents a serious lapse, because Jacquot has two wonderful opportunities to make the lesbian affair stranger, more complicated, and therefore more interesting -- and neglects to develop either. In particular, he could have taken the time to probe the obvious question of how these two royal Frenchwomen managed to conduct a homosexual affair with the knowledge of the entire court; in one sequence they parade around, embracing each other in full view of hundreds -- which is bizarre enough to practically demand elaboration. It would have also benefitted the film immeasurably if Jacquot had tied external dangers -- such as the encroaching threat of monarchial execution lingering in the air -- to the erotic pull between the women. Not only does this not happen, but Jacquot travels to the other extreme -- he has one of the women sacrificially send the other away, which completely drains the coupling of all sexual tension. To be sure, there is nothing particularly inept in the picture: it's beautifully designed and costumed, and all of the actors perform satisfactorily. Kruger, in fact, is so much more emotionally nuanced and multidimensional than Kirsten Dunst was in the title role of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, that you really wish Jacquot had devoted more scenes to the character; she commands all of her sequences. But at this point, when we hear the story of Marie Antoinette, we want something to challenge us, to catch us off guard, to force us to look at these well-tread events in a new way. That doesn't happen here.