Best movie of this year hands down!

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Farewell, My Queen is a sumptuous visual treat and faux-historical romp from French writer and director Benoit Jacquot.Set mainly in Versailles over three days as the Bastille is stormed and the French Revolution gains unstoppable momentum, this is a lavish production with superb costume design and sets.Shown mainly from the point of view of the servants to the royals and aristocrats, the film makes good use of France's palatial architecture and neatly shows the difference in the opulence of the super rich compared to the squalid conditions of their largely loyal and deferential lackeys. The film is beautifully shot, both inside and out, and allows the audience to feel they are being given a personal guided tour of one of France's greatest museums loaded with fine art and antiques.The story focuses on seduction and loyalty between protagonists within the palace and their reaction to the unfolding history which is mainly off-screen. Regrettably, however, the film, which is strongly female orientated in cast and storyline, titillated with lesbian longing and did so in a salacious and voyeuristic manner. It could have amounted to so much more.This is a film that will appeal to all those who mourn the passing of Downton Abbey.

In film alone there have been eight representations depicting the life and times of Marie Antoinette. Benoit Jacquot's latest interpretation comes from a screenplay that he and Gilles Taurant adapted from Chantal Thomas's novel. Filmed largely at Versailles it looks closely at the class divide between monarch and servant and how blind love can distort your view. It's told from the point of view of a servant blindly committed to her Queen. Visually sumptuous with a compelling narrative it skilfully avoids the dullness of many period dramas.The story takes place during the last four days leading up to the French Revolution. Culminating in the overthrow of the monarchy and the execution of the King and Queen of France. A young woman Sidonie (Lea Seydoux) is the official reader to the Queen. She is Marie Antoinette's (Diane Kruger) number one fan. Scratching away at mosquito bites and grimacing at the site of a giant rat lurking in the servant's quarters she chooses to ignore all the rumblings and gossip of rebellion and dissent emerging around her. She is an unapologetic servant of the beautiful seductive Queen. Having shared a coffee she observes "It's all going wonderfully well." Marie Antoinette spends most of her time draped in fine clothes and surrounded by gold in her private chambers. She vaguely peruses the latest fashion magazine. She requests embroidery and books, self-absorbed, vain and removed from the realities of poverty and deprivation outside her Palace walls. Running and stumbling and always late Sidonie serves at the behest of her Queen. "So young and already so blind" comments the wise old historian Morcau (Michael Robin). As the days pass the hallways and corridors become crowded with panicked servants and gentry alike. A list of names to be beheaded emerges causing terror amongst the Bourgeoisie. The final hours of a corrupt monarchy reveal a Queen who will sacrifice anyone for the love of her dearest Mme de Polinac (Virgine Ledoyen). Throughout the proceeding Jacquot gives the film a contemporary feel, using a constantly moving camera that follows Sidonie wherever she goes. No conventional traditional set-ups, the fluidity of the camera-work gives the film a sense of urgency. Benoit loves a tracking shot. The Production Design by Katla Wyszkop (Potiche) is worth the price of admission contrasting the emptiness of the maid's quarters, against the opulence of Marie Antoinette's private quarters. Cinematography and lighting by Romain Winding is exquisite. It's as if he's lighting by candle for much of the picture. The performers are all excellent, Kruger captures the seductiveness of the Queen, but it's Seydoux in almost every seen who transfixes with her sublime performance.

This is a beautiful film, exceptionally well directed, written, acted, edited, costumed and designed. What struck me is that I was completely absorbed in the story from the very first scene to the last one. I enjoyed a different take from a different perspective of the beginning of the French Revolution. Historical figures can be seen from so many different vantage points and I thought a lesbian Marie Antoinette was quite an interesting possibility.This film for me was mostly about the extraordinary actresses: Lea Seydoux, perhaps not a showy performance but one that kept me interested in her throughout; Virginie Leyoden, a mysterious woman, the object of desire; Noemie Lvovsky, so different here than I have ever seen her in many of her other roles; Julie-Marie Parmentier, still giving interesting performances 12 years after "Murderous Maids"; and especially Diane Kruger, as a young adult Marie Antoinette, spoiled but intelligent, indulgent, she simply doesn't know better, and very much in love with the duchess. I hope Diane Kruger gets a Supporting Actress Cesar nomination this coming Friday.Marie's impulsive decision to have Sibonie dress and pretend to be the Duchess Poulignac fascinates me. The psychology of being kow-towed to, and the the psychology of doing the kow-towing (british people still bow & scrape for the queen, and all that stupidity).The design elements of this film need special mention: the superb camera work, editing, score, sets, and especially the costumes, which add so much to the enjoyment of this film.I hope this film gets 9 Cesar nominations this coming Friday, but particularly for Diane Kruger's performance, which is quite superb!

Written and directed by Benoît Jacquot and based on the novel by Chantal Thomas, Farewell, My Queen explores the death throes of the French monarchy over a period of three days in July, 1789. Set in the Palace of Versailles at the beginning of the French Revolution, Sidonie (Lea Seydoux), known as the reader for Queen Marie-Antoinette (Diane Kruger), is responsible for selecting books and reading them aloud to the queen. Because of her closeness to the monarch, she is able to act as a spy, securing information about events taking place inside and outside the palace, pressing selected servants for information, and eavesdropping on conversations to gather the most up-to-date gossip to pass along to Marie.The film is seen from Sidonie's point of view, a vantage point that illuminates the sharp social divisions inside the palace with the servants living in crowded rat-infested quarters, and the royals dwelling in opulent accommodations. Lea Seydoux delivers a powerful performance as the devoted servant of the queen, conveying an air of mystery about who she really is in a way that adds to her allure. Kruger portrays Marie-Antoinette as sensual and hedonistic and there is a hint of more than Platonism in the way she interacts with both Sidonie and the Duchess de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen), a relationship that tests Sidonie's loyalty.On the morning of July 15th, news spreads rapidly that the king had been awakened at two in the morning. No one knows the reason, but fear spreads throughout the court. If the king is ill, who will protect those totally dependent on the nobles who control their lives? It is soon revealed, however, that the king is not ill, but that a mob has stormed the Bastille and a revolt has begun against the aristocracy. Little information is available. Rumors abound based only on conversations whispered in the hallways and the servant's quarters. When the King travels to Paris and the Queen decides against an escape to Metz, an aura of inevitably descends on the Palace and the nobles begin to abandon ship, competing for places on the coaches seeking a safe haven.Antoinette makes every effort to continue with business as usual, looking at magazines to admire new styles and colors for the coming season, paying scant attention to the fact that her name is number one in a list of 300 targets for the guillotine. Fearful of losing her only connection to the world, Sidonie is willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice if it is in the queen's best interest. Even though Farewell, My Queen is historically questionable and may hold us at arms length emotionally, it provides a fresh view of events that we know about only from history books or stuffy costume dramas.Jacquot captures the authenticity of time and place and also the human side of the power struggle. Unfortunately, the film pays little attention to the issues that led to the revolt, never mentioning the abuse of power by the monarchy. Indeed, the Revolution serves only as a backdrop for the story which is more about seduction, loyalty, and betrayal than social upheaval. Rather than making a statement that is relevant for our times, the intricacies of sexual intrigue and love triangles dominate the film, titillating rather than persuading, and making the goings on difficult to care about.