Marie-Antoinette As Usual

I had a great time watching French movies at Rendez Vous with French Cinema this week-end, and hope to see more as the festival continues until March 11: The Untouchables (so funny!), the Gangsters (a good old-cop movie) and finally, if I may say, The Last Days of Marie-Antoinette.
“The story of the film is about these important moments in time, in our lives, when History changes all perspectives, and when our awareness of the importance of the moment does not follow” (“Le monde change et notre conscience ne suit pas”), said Benoit Jacquot (“Midnight in Paris”). Certainly July 14, 1789 was such a moment in the History of France when the people stormed the Bastille and the very idea of absolute monarchy was beheaded.
A pamphlet circulated in the corridors of Versailles, clustered by the courtesans, stating the 250 or so names of heads which should roll. The King and the Queen being number 1 and number 2. How Marie-Antoinette is living through these last 3 days and nights? According to Benoit Jacquot’s interpretation of Chantal Thomas’s book (“Farewell, my Queen: a novel”), her main concern was the sensuous Princesse de Polignac, and the appeal of her senses …I will leave that to him.
For me (yes I am biased), the real star of the movie is Versailles and the beautiful and sensitive depiction of life at court, Versailles as a place of great political significance: the Grille du Roi, the Grande galerie, the Trianon, the gardens… all these places have their own role on the royal checkerboard and for that matter on the checkerboard of History! Not to be missed. http://www.rendezvouswithFrenchcinema.com