''Farewell, My Queen'' (french: Les Adieux à la reine) is a 2012 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot (; born 5 February 1947) is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. Life and career Born in Paris, Jacquot began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films, incl ...

and based on the novel of the same name by

Chantal Thomas Chantal Thomas (born 18 October 1945, in Lyon) is a French writer and historian. Her 2002 book, ''Farewell, My Queen'', won the Prix Femina and was adapted into a 2012 film starring Diane Kruger and Léa Seydoux. Career Thomas was born in Lyon ...

, who won the ''

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine ''La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

'' in 2002. It gives a fictional account of the last days of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...

in power seen through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde, a young servant who reads aloud to the queen. The film stars

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in ...

as the Queen,

Léa Seydoux Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne (; born 1 July 1985) is a French actor. Known for her roles in both French cinema and in Hollywood she's received various accolades including the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard in 2009 as wel ...

, and

Virginie Ledoyen Virginie Fernández (born 15 November 1976), known by her stage name Virginie Ledoyen (), is a French actress who has appeared in French, British and American films. Life and career Ledoyen was born in Aubervilliers, the daughter of Olga, a re ...

. It opened the

62nd Berlin International Film Festival The 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2012. British film director Mike Leigh was the President of the Jury. The first five films to be screened in the competition were announced on 19 December 2011. Am ...

in February 2012 and has subsequently been screened at other festivals. It was released on 21 March 2012 in France.

Plot

In 1789, on the eve of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, the court at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

still live their routines, relatively unconcerned by the increasing turmoil in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

a mere twenty miles away. The routines are seen through the eyes of the young Sidonie Laborde, who serves Queen

. When news about the

storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille (french: Prise de la Bastille ) occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. A ...

reaches the Court, most aristocrats and servants desert the Palace and abandon the Royal Family, fearing that the government is falling. But Sidonie, a true believer in the monarchy, refuses to flee. She feels secure under the protection of the Royal Family. She does not know these are the last three days she will spend by the Queen's side. The Queen orders Sidonie to disguise herself as Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron,

Duchess of Polignac Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (8 September 17499 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette be ...

, and serve as bait so that the latter can safely flee to Switzerland. This Sidonie does, despite a prior warning from one of the Queen's ladies in waiting. Sidonie is stripped naked and then redressed in a green gown. The coach carrying Sidonie is also occupied by the real Duchess and her husband, dressed as her servants. They treat her with disdain during the journey but she plays her role convincingly enough to enable the party to safely cross the border. As the film ends, she remarks that she has no connections other than her position as reader to the Queen, and soon she will be a nobody.

Cast

as Sidonie Laborde *

as Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France *

Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (8 September 17499 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette b ...

Xavier Beauvois Xavier Beauvois (; born 20 March 1967) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. Career His film '' Don't Forget You're Going to Die'' was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize. His film '' Of Gods an ...

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

Grégory Gadebois Grégory Gadebois (born 24 July 1976) is a French actor. Life and career He studied at the CNSAD in the classroom of Catherine Hiegel and Dominique Valadié. He was a member of the Comédie-Française from 2006 to 2012. Theatre Filmograp ...

as Louis, comte de Provence *

Francis Leplay Francis Leplay is a French actor and writer. An alumnus of France's National Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences Po, he began acting on television in episodes of the French detective series ''Julie Lescaut'' and'' Navarro''. His first film ro ...

as Charles, comte d'Artois *

Noémie Lvovsky Noémie Lvovsky (; born 14 December 1964) is a French film director, screenwriter, and actress. Life and career Born in Paris in 1964, Lvovsky is the daughter of Jewish parents who emigrated from Ukraine to flee pogroms. She studied cinema at L ...

Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan Jeanne Louise ''Henriette'' Campan (''née'' Genet; 6 OctoberMadame Campan, ''Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France'', 1752, Paris 16 March 1822, Mantes) was a French educator, writer and Lady's maid. In the service of Marie ...

Vladimir Consigny Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

as Paolo *

Julie-Marie Parmentier Julie-Marie Parmentier (born 13 June 1981) is a French actress. She began practising theater at nine years old, in Saint-Quentin, Aisne. At the age of fifteen, she played in her first feature film, ''Petites'', by Noémie Lvovsky. Since the ...

as Honorine *

Michel Robin Michel Robin (13 November 1930 – 18 November 2020) was a French film, stage, and television actor. A sociétaire of the Comédie-Française since 1996, he also appeared in 120 films from 1966 to 2018. He won several awards for his acting, ...

as Nicolas Moreau *

Lolita Chammah Lolita Chammah (born 1 October 1983) is a French actress. Background Chammah is the daughter of and Isabelle Huppert. She grew up in Paris and already had her first roles during childhood. Lolita Chammah has one son, Gabriel Merz Chammah. At t ...

as Louison * Marthe Caufman as Alice *

Jacques Boudet Jacques Boudet (born 29 December 1939) is a French stage and screen actor. He had great success in the 1980s with his appearance in '' Exercises in Style'', and is featured in the film '' The Names of Love'' (2010). In cinema, he frequently a ...

as Monsieur de la Tour du Pin *

Martine Chevallier Martine Chevallier (born 1949 in Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France) is a French actress. Career Martine Chevallier joined the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique in the class of Antoine Vitez and won the first prize in 1974. In 1986 ...

as Madame de la Tour du Pin *

Jacques Nolot Jacques Nolot (; born 31 August 1943) is a French actor, screenwriter and film director. Life and career Jacques Nolot was born on 31 August 1943, Marciac, Gers, a small village in Southwest France. A fragile child, Nolot was doted upon by his ...

as Monsieur de Jolivet *

Serge Renko Serge Renko is a French actor. He appeared in more than thirty films since 1982. Selected filmography References External links * Date of birth missing (living people) Living people French male film actors 20th-century French male ...

as Marquis de la Chesnaye *

Anne Benoît Anne Benoît is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 60 film and television productions since 1981. Career Benoît was trained at the Conservatoire de Versailles, under the direction of Marcelle Tassencourt. She later attended the Tan ...

Rose Bertin Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin (2 July 1747, Abbeville, Picardy, France – 22 September 1813, Épinay-sur-Seine) was a French milliner (''Marchande de modes''), known as the dressmaker to Queen Marie Antoinette. She was the first celebrated French ...

Dominique Reymond Dominique Reymond (born 12 February 1957) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than seventy films since 1984. She has been to the Geneva Conservatory , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Sa ...

as Madame * Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc as Monsieur de Polignac *

Jacques Herlin Jacques Herlin (17 August 1927 – 7 June 2014) was a French character actor. Born in Paris as Jacques de Jouette, he appeared in an impressive number of films from the early sixties. He was also active on stage and on television. He died i ...

as Marquis de Vaucouleurs * Pierre Rochefort as Le valet Antonin

Production

''Farewell, My Queen'' was directed by

and based on a script by him,

, and Gilles Taurand. They adapted the script from the novel of the same name by Thomas. She won the ''

'' for her book in 2002. After reading Chantal's feminist novel, Jacquot wanted to create a film from this perspective. The German actress

was cast as

. Recognizing that many audience members had preconceptions of Marie Antoinette, Kruger approached the role by "trying not to judge her... We have the same origins, the same age. I could relate to her as a woman." While the actress

is younger than the age of the ''lectrice'' character in the novel, Jacquot cast her as Laborde because "she brought this carnal dimension. She has incontrovertible sex appeal." He also added to the plot the same-sex relationship between the Queen and duchess of Polignac; he thought it might be possible, given women's strong relationships with each other in that time period.

Release

The film opened the

in February 2012. It was later shown at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

(19 April) and the

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival The Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival is a springtime film festival in the U.S. state of Minnesota that has been held since 1981. It began as the Rivertown Film Festival in Stillwater by Al Milgrom of Pine City and even ...

(27 April) and as part of the L'Alliance Française French Film Festival, in Australia, in March 2013. ''Farewell, My Queen'' opened in theaters in France on 21 March 2012, and was released on a limited basis to American theaters on 13 July 2012.

Reception

''Farewell, My Queen'' holds a rating of 67/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. Several reviewers compared the film to

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed crime drama film ...

's 2006 production, ''

''.

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

's Anne Thompson believed it was "an intimate and sexy period spectacle that takes us backstage at Versailles and into territory Sofia Coppola was not willing to go." Deborah Young of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' called ''Farewell, My Queen'' a "visual joy, even while its tale of a lower class girl at court infatuated with the Queen of France labors to say something relevant. Though director Benoit Jacquot opts for the grand European style of '' Girl with a Pearl Earring'' rather than a modernist rereading à la Sofia Coppola's post-punk vision ''Marie Antoinette'', the film has its own charm, a matter-of-fact treatment of lesbianism and 'magnifique' costumes and settings guaranteed to please Upper East Side patrons, all of which suggests a wide art-house release for this lavish French-Spanish coprod." Writing for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', Geoffrey Macnab said that the director "doesn't have any grand political statements to make. He is not trying to make a sweeping melodrama either. His approach is more like that of an anthropologist, studying a tribe in its death throes. The result is quietly fascinating."

Manohla Dargis Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Career Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times' ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' describes Jacquot's film as a "tense, absorbing, pleasurably original look at three days in the life and lies of a doomed monarch..." Dargia, Manohla (12 July 2012)
"As the Bastille Falls, Gossip in Versailles"
''

''. Retrieved 20 August 2012. She suggests that Jacquot adopted his addition of the lesbian relationship from virulent political pamphlets of the time attacking the Queen. Justin Chang, the critic of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine wrote, "Benoit Jacquot's venom-tipped account of palatial intrigue and royal oblivion scrupulously maintains a servant's-eye view but winds up holding the viewer at an unrewarding distance. Cast names should lend the picture some Euro arthouse traction, though Stateside biz won't far exceed that of Jacquot's recent work." While Chang criticized the characterization and depiction of Seydoux's character Sidonie Laborde, he praised Kruger's projection of "regal desperation" as well as Ledoyen's performance as the duchess.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farewell My Queen 2012 films 2012 drama films 2012 biographical drama films 2010s historical drama films 2012 LGBT-related films 2010s French-language films French biographical drama films French historical drama films French LGBT-related films French Revolution films Biographical films about Marie Antoinette Cultural depictions of Louis XVI Films based on French novels Films directed by Benoît Jacquot Films set in 1789 Films shot in France LGBT-related drama films Louis Delluc Prize winners Films scored by Bruno Coulais 2010s French films