Farewell, My Queen

A familiar plot device in historical dramas is to view world-changing events through the eyes of someone in the periphery, especially a servant. This device, a kind of "Upstairs, Downstairs" tactic, is used in Farewell, My Queen, a film by Benoit Jacquot, which gives us the behind-the-scenes look at the palace of Versailles in the days immediately following the beginning of the French revolution.

Lea Seydoux is Sidonie, who is a reader for the Queen, Marie-Antoinette. She is a girl of unknown origin, a mystery to the other servants. But she loves the queen, who is good to her, and enjoys being able to discuss literature with her.

The film begins on July 14, 1789, when the Bastille was stormed. The next day the palace is in tumult. A notice is passed around, with the names of those whom the revolutionaries want to behead, which includes the queen, and the queen's friend, a Duchess (Virginie Ledoyen). The queen tells Seydoux that she has a special love for the Duchess, which I think we are meant to assume is sexual.

The film ends when Seydoux finds out just what the queen thinks of her, asking her to make a sacrifice. The ending comes very abruptly, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Though this film is about a subject as big as the French revolution, it's very small and intimate. Almost all of the action takes place in the palace, whether in the servants' quarters, the queen's rooms, or corridors. I found it to be only part of a film--somewhere there must be more--and as the screen went black I could feel a shared confusion in the audience.

Diane Kruger plays the queen, and this is only right, since Marie-Antoinette was Austrian. Kruger gives the character a properly spoiled regal quality--who else would need someone to read to her? At one point someone says of her, "she has never opened or closed a door on her own."

Seydoux is more of a blank slate, as her character seems to be just a reflection of the queen's. Another character comments how little she knows about her, and only at the end do we learn that she is an orphan. But the character is a black hole in the heart of the film, and it's difficult to work up any emotion about her.

Still, the film is sporadically interesting enough to warrant a slight recommendation.

My grade for Farewell, My Queen: C+.