Most of the movies set in and around the Versailles, in the time when it was still the residence of the French kings, show the building and its inhabitants in all their glory and splendor, but there are always those who take a different approach. "Les adieux à la reine" ("Farewell, My Queen"), latest movie from French director and screenwriter Benoît Jacquot, falls in the latter category. It's based on the book of the same name by Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, and guides us through Versailles from 14th to 16th of July 1789. Those were hard days for the monarchy. 14th of July 1789 is the day the Bastille fell, which marks the beginning of the French Revolution. But Jacquot isn't interested in politics as much as in reactions of unsuspecting Versailles denizens. What we see aren't the lush and wondrous chambers and halls but rather the small, concealed and poor ones. The characters we meet are mostly servants and lower class nobility, wondering through that "other" Versailles in shock and horror, debating on news and gossip about what's happening in Paris and wondering about their uncertain fates. Amidst all of that is Sidonie Laborde, queen's reader and the main character of the movie. She seems to be the only one who's not concerned by her own fate but by that of the person that means everything to her, the queen. Sidonie worships queen and would do anything for her, but the queen, although somewhat intimate with her, holds that kind of feelings for another woman, Duchess Gabrielle de Polignac.
So we have a story about unreturned love between three women on the French court on the eve of the French Revolution. But how interesting is it? Not that much, really. There is one scene where Sidonie and Marie read aloud a conversation between two lovers from some drama, and through that enacted conversation Sidonie expresses her true feelings for the queen. In that scene we can sense the feelings and the longing which they both carry inside themselves and in that moment we really care. Unfortunately, for the rest of the time, we don't. We're meant to, of course, but performances from Léa Seydoux and Diane Kruger, while good, are not good enough to make their though characters engaging. Also, the fact that Sidonie, smart and well read young woman, is defining herself in relation to the queen (when she left Versailles she said she doesn't exist no more) doesn't come up as believable. The main story disappoints, but there are still some things of interest in the movie. The mentioned, "other" Versailles being the main one. The scenes of servants and nobility wondering through dark and narrow halls and steep stairs, at one moment crowded but just behind the next corner eerie with their emptiness, provide an almost hallucinatory experience and the feeling of dread and uncertainty which possesses those people feels very authentic.
As you can imagine, costume design and makeup are amongst the highlights of the movie. Which unfortunately couldn't be said about direction and screenplay, although some of its holes add up to that hallucinatory feeling. Also, some details seem redundant, and I'm still puzzled by their significance (the clock, the flower sample). I already commented on the two main actresses and, although we meet more than few characters throughout the movie, no one else stands out.
In spite of its different approach to the theme, "Les adieux à la reine" doesn't feel fresh. Just as Sidonie becomes a captive of the queen and the queen becomes the captive of the duchess, the movie becomes a captive of its main characters, much to its detriment. It has a few bright spots, as noted, but not enough to stop us from saying "adieux".
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