Movie Review: Farewell, My Queen

Farewell, My Queen

GMT Productions

100 mins.

USA Release: July 13, 2012

Rated: R

Much like a book, I learned from this film that you should not judge a film by its poster, because this one threw me far off. The cover shows Queen Marie Antoinette and her dear friend, the Duchesse de Polignac parting ways before the French royal family fled the palace. Paired with the title, Farewell, My Queen, you would assume this film is about the relationship between the two; but that is not the case. Polignac only comes and goes in a couple small scenes and thus the film poster overstates her importance to the film.

This film is told from the perspective of Agathe-Sidonie who is employed as a reader to the Queen. It follows her as she moves in and out of the realms of servant and royalty giving the viewer glimpses of both worlds at this time of upheaval – which was a useful storytelling device. We are lea to believe that Agathe-Sidonie possibly thinks herself in love with – or at least infatuated with – the Queen, but I never really believed it. I didn’t feel that we got to know her as well as we should have given that she was the point of view character. Diane Kruger plays Marie Antoinette beautifully, sometimes sedate and sometimes a little bit stirred, but a portrayal that felt based in reality rather than caricature, as many portrayals of her are.

The film covers a very short time period, merely days, the height of the turmoil roiling outside the palace just prior to the storming of the Bastille through the end of the royal family. Being insulated mostly within the court, you don’t feel the rising panic until it is too late. What the film does do well is to illustrate just how different the perspective of the court was from what was actually occurring in the city.

This was a beautiful and atmospheric film, which felt even more so for being in the French language. It required a lot of concentration to follow the language and storyline combined, but it was a pleasant film.

Normally I would post a trailer, but I think that it doesn’t represent the film well, so instead I am posting this scene, that was much more true to the tone of the story:

 

 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Review: The Princess of Montpensier

The Princess of Montpensier

Paradis Films

139 mins.

May 16, 2010

Rated: PG-13

This is a beautiful French foreign film that was originally screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. It is based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette published in 1662. It is believed that the events in the story are based on real events of people the author knew, but was changed to a different time period from that when it was written.

This is a romantic drama. The general plotline is that Marie, the Princess of Montpensier, is in love with the Duke de Guise, not her husband the Prince of Montpensier. There is also the Prince’s close friend, the Count of Chabannes who is in love with Marie as well. What will she do? Choose to learn to love her husband as everyone says she must or abandon him for the arms of the man she has loved since childhood? All of this is set within the reign of Catherine de’ Medici as the Queen Mother and encapsulates the Huguenot/Catholic drama and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. None of it is computer generated and it was all filmed on location. One of the things that I loved was getting to see how difficult riding long distances was – whether on horseback or in a carriage – it didn’t look fun. The costumes were GORGEOUS! I loved the colors and the styles and especially her hats! Her green riding outfit toward the very end of the film was my favorite.

The war/fight scenes were very well done. You could feel the emotions of the characters – although I really think that the Prince could have been a lot more than whiny. I thought that Melanie Thierry (Marie), Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet (Montpensier) and Gaspard Ulliel (Guise) were wonderful. I didn’t really love Raphael Personnaz as the Duke de Anjou – the character seemed a little creepy to me. I loved listening to the French dialogue – although I had no idea what it meant unless I read the subtitles.

A beautiful film and full of drama and intrigue.

Check out this trailer:

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Review: Mad Love

Mad Love

Canal+ España

115 mins.

August 30, 2002 (USA)

Rated: R

Mad Love is a Spanish foreign film on the life of Juana of Castille – or Juana La Loca. I watched this film last year and wrote a mini review for a challenge, but I wanted to expand upon that for a full review of the film. Just a heads up, the film is in Spanish but there are English subtitles. I had wanted to see this film for a long time, but the fact that I would have to really pay attention and read the subtitles had me pushing it off for awhile.

I had some knowledge of Juana before watching this film but this was a story that intrigued me to want to learn more. I still haven’t had the chance to read The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner, but after watching this film it has made me want to all the more. The film follows Juana from just before her marriage to Felipe to after his death.

The actress who portrayed Juana, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, did a fabulous job at being totally in love with Felipe and acting out in jealous, "crazy" rages. I felt for her as she did everything she could to keep the man she was totally in love with all to herself, when even the court was pushing for her to be put aside. The best scene is when she encounters Felipe’s mistress – great acting! I can absolutely see why she has won several awards for this role, including the Goya Award for Best Actress (equivalent to Academy Awards in Spain). Daniele Liotti plays Felipe very well as a very crafty individual who is used to getting what he wants. The set design and costumes are gorgeous!

The plot of this film does make Juana out to be crazy, but it certainly sets up the scenarios that send her off the deep end. It gives reasons for her jealousy and expands upon her exhaustive need for her husband. It doesn’t just pursue the story that she was crazy, period.

This film had such a deep and emotional story that it was so easy to get sucked into the film. I can’t believe that I waited so long to see it – I couldn’t pull myself away from the story. It is certainly something that I would watch again. Many people are hesitant to see this film because they have a preconceived notion that Spanish film are “soap-opera” like – do not hesitate, this film is nothing like that. This film receives my highest recommendation.

Check out this trailer:

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Review: Goya's Ghosts

Goya’s Ghosts
The Saul Zaentz Company

113 mins.

2006

Rated: R

This was an interesting movie that is going to be a little difficult to review. The setting for this movie is the Spanish Inquisition immediately following the French Revolution. The setting is realistic while the entire plot of the story itself is fantasy.

The basic plot works like this: Francisco Goya is painting in Spain, the Church thinks his paintings are heretical. Brother Lorenzo steps up and defends Goya and has a portrait painted by him. One of Goya’s models, Ines, is called in by the Inquisitors and incarcerated (her being put to “the question” was executed pretty well)– Lorenzo tries to defend her too, but really makes the situation much worse. Up until this point, the plot mostly made sense, afterward, when it jumps 15 years into the future, it sort of loses its footing. Ines is released from prison, Goya is deaf, and Lorenzo is…sort of flopping around trying to find where he belongs.

It felt like the plot was scrambling around trying to pull pieces together and not doing the best job. By the ending I was confused as to what had happened. I felt like the character of Lorenzo had no consistency to his decisions. As I look back on my notes as I try to write this review, they really don’t make any sense to me at all – and that was my overall impression of this movie.

The acting wasn’t terrible – Javier Bardem plays Lorenzo, Stellan Skarsgard plays Goya, and Natalie Portman plays Ines. I think that the actors did a decent job with what was given to them. I thought that the costuming and make up was very well done – especially Natalie after she is released from prison – time did not treat her well.

I think that the concept for the film was good but the execution and editing left a lot to be desired. I wouldn’t highly recommend this film, but this might be one of those movies that you watch if it is instant download on Netflix or something of that sort. I don’t regret watching it, but it wasn’t something that I loved.

Check out this trailer (it makes it look really compelling which is what drew me in!):

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court