Marie Antoinette – Marie Antoinette, la veritable histoire (2006)

Directed by: Francis Leclerc, Yves Simoneau | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Karine Vanasse, Olivier Aubin, Marie-Eve Beaulieu, Danny Gilmore, Chloé Rocheleau, Helene Florent, Paul Ahmarani, Charles Berling, Luc Bourgeois, Vincent Champoux, Gina Couture, Charles Dury, Raphaël Dury, Marie-Josée Forget, Marie- Ève Gamache, David de la Haye, Mathilde Lavigne, Vincent-Guillaume Otis, Jules Philip, Myriam Poirier, Paul Savoie

The life story of beautiful women who die young is a rewarding subject for film makers. Marie-Antoinette is no exception. Two films about the illustrious French queen appeared in 2006: a Sofia Coppola-directed production starring Kirsten Dunst and this French/Canadian TV film, which, according to the subtitle, tells ‘the true story’. However, anyone hoping for juicy revelations will be disappointed. Although the makers base their story on archive material and correspondence from the people involved, this does not lead to spectacular new insights.

The portrait that ‘Marie-Antoinette’ paints largely corresponds to the popular image, albeit with some more nuances. Marie-Antoinette was a free spirit who spent a lot of money on parties and fancy dresses while her people starved to death, but she was more than just a pleasure animal. She felt stifled by the strict rules of the court and desperately sought distraction. Her understandable need to get out of hand every now and then was grist to the mill of her influential enemies, who took every (alleged) misstep to spread gossip about her. Marie-Antoinette was no devil. She was not heartless but naive, an isolated woman with bad counselors, a devoted mother and wife, and a proud queen who faced her horrific end with grace.

As a documentary, ‘Marie-Antoinette’ works well. The film gives you an insight into life at the French court in the eighteenth century. In this way you learn that royal births were public affairs and that dressing the queen due to the strict protocol took an eternity. The costumes and props are beautiful and the spectacular locations are also impressive, although it is visible here and there that they were mounted afterwards. As a drama, the film is less successful. This is mainly due to the emphatic voice-over, which tells you exactly what is going on in the heads of the characters. The actors therefore don’t have to do much more than draw appropriate facial expressions. As a result, ‘Marie-Antoinette’ is a school TV with a large budget: not compelling, but educational.