A Movie – Farewell, My Queen 8/1/12

August 1, 2012

I have seen movies about French Revolution and the life in Versailles, but this French movie focuses on Marie Antoinette and her lesbian relationship, and an affection to Queen by Marie Antoinette’s librarian lady. The life is intimate and beautiful in Queen’s quarters. It seems almost like Japanese Ōoku, which was a ladies’ wing in Edo Castle in Tokugawa period (Tokugawa period lasted until 1868 when Japan reopened our country to the Western World – Meiji Restoration). I enjoyed this movie tremendously. It depicts emotion, passion, and love in the quiet expression.The film stars Lea Seydoux as one of Marie’s many servants, seemingly an innocent but quietly working her way into her mistress’s special favors, until history tosses her fate onto a different path around the Revolution. Wicker Park gives her best performance as the ill-fated Queen and Virginie Ledoyen is the Queen’s very special friend Gabrielle de Polignac. The ending is twisty, yet the story will stay in our mind forever.