Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Isabella MI I did see this movie not long ago and in my personal opinion, it is not boring at all. In fact I see it as quite exciting because it is one of the few films that comes very close to the historical Marie-Antoinette and her real nature as a human being. I also did see the other film of Coppola and did not agree with it at all cause I thought it to be way too superficial and only showing one side of a very complex historical personality. In fact I was very annoyed and mad about it because it is inexcusable to see such a careless handling of such an interesting and disrupted character like the last French Queen.Actually I honestly am quite surprised as to how few movies actually give justice to the real historical personality and how few details of her biography are told. Reality is never that simple and never as one-sided, and it would be wrong to only show the Queen as someone who loved luxury and ruthlessly spent all the taxmoney of the people, uncaring if they were hungry or not. Coppola completely leaves out the element that luxury often only is a way to evade and to distract oneself of the real problems and important matters of life. One of the important issues in these cases to have a son and to make the dynasty live on, which was the Queen's first "official" task - and this task caused her unhappiness for quite a long time cause her husband did have a phimosis. The other important issue was loneliness, and yes I firmly do believe that she must have been terribly lonely in such a place like Versailles in which there were not many good and decent people to have as friends. She probably would have needed someone like Sidonie, sadly she did not exist.All of this was never mentioned in the Coppola adaptation. "Les Adieux à la Reine" comes closer to reality because it shows Versailles the way it supposedly was back then. It also shows the queen as a real disrupted human being with real emotions like regret and abandonment, and someone who was able to love and being loved in return (not like a lot of "fake" people nowadays). I missed that a lot in the other one which in my opinion gives a totally wrong image of the Queen as the human being she was. Also Coppola did not show the heavy change she went through in the last days of the revolution when she woke up to reality and became considerate, dutiful and thoughtful as well (too late as historians would probably say and it didn't save her from being killed). I give this film 8 of 10 stars because I actually think that the ending sucks somewhat because Sidonie leaves and never comes back. I know the ending wanted to add to the subtility overall but in my eyes that simply didn't work very well. 8 of 10 because I thought the acting to be very impressive and the characters well-described, and plus I think there is a lot of tactfulness to the character development and historical correctness. I think it definitely has the necessary requirements to become a classic overall.

gradyharp Les adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen) is a luxurious, visually stunning film about the moments before the citizens of France stormed the Bastille and headed for Versailles. Without a rather thorough understanding of that period of French history the film may leave some viewers confused as to the story line. This film is more about the manner in which Marie Antoinette functioned as a queen and as a woman with needs than it is about a precise description of what was occurring outside the palace walls.In July 1789, the French Revolution is forming and gaining momentum. Seemingly oblivious to the people of France, at the Château de Versailles, King Louis XVI (Xavier Beauvois), Queen Marie-Antoinette (Diane Kruger) and their courtiers keep on living their usual carefree lives. The comparison to Upstairs Downstairs is evident - carried to the extreme. The matter of note is the window into the personality of Marie Antoinette who has been having a lesbian affair with the Duchess Gabrielle de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen). To pass her time away when the Duchess is not available for assignations, Marie fills her hours looking at materials, fashion books, and she has a lady in waiting reader - Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux) - read stories to her. The two become confidants and Sidonie is utterly devoted to Marie, knowing that Marie and Gabrielle are in a relationship. But when the news of the storming of the Bastille reaches them, panic sets in and most of the aristocrats and their servants desert the sinking ship, leaving the Royal Family practically alone. Sidonie remains at Marie's side and as preparations for the evacuation of the palace are made, Marie asks Sidonie to disguise herself as Gabrielle and to escape to Switzerland with Gabrielle and her husband dressed in disguise: should the French stop their carriage it would be Sidonie that would be beheaded, saving Gabrielle to return to Marie when the 'nasty business outside Versailles is over'. Sidonie does as she is asked out of her devotion to Marie and the film ends with only with words of the results of the historical events (the beheading of Marie in 1793 etc) - a quite subtle and fitting ending to a moment of recreated history.The film is based on Chantal Thomas' novel and written for the screen by Gilles Taurand and director Benoît Jacquot. The costumes and settings are magnificent and the other members of the large cast (especially Noémie Lvovsky as Madame Campan and Michel Robin as Moreau) are uniformly excellent. It is an interesting look at the characters of French history and though the film in many ways lacks substance it still merits seeing for the period piece that it is. Grady Harp

cultfilmfan Before going in to see Farewell, My Queen, I really did not know too much about it and now I am glad that I knew little to nothing about the film before I saw it. I knew it was about Marie Antoinette, but that was about it. I haven't seen too many films about Marie Antoinette, other than Sofia Coppola's 2006 film which I liked quite a bit. Both films offer a different look and perspective on her, one of the things I really liked about this film as well. Lea Seydoux does a terrific job playing Sidonie Laborde, who is Marie Antoinette's reader. Seydoux allows her character to have a very curious side to her and at times she is really determined to stand up for what she believes in and can be forceful all at the same time as having an innocence to her as most young women do. It's a great performance and one that I hope leads to a successful career for her. Diane Kruger, who plays Marie Antoinette does a good job as well, but at times I did find her performance a tad melodramatic and so sometimes it felt a bit forced, or over the top. However, both Seydoux and Kruger both do show infatuation and they show it well. I can not go into any more detail than that, or I would ruin the film, but Kruger is especially good at showing Marie Antoinette's more softer and human side. A side that recognizes her fear, her flaws and truths about her own personality. Seydoux's character Sidonie is so loyal to the queen that she almost loves her, but as the film goes on, we are not really sure why. The queen can be very vicious and uncaring to Sidonie, but yet this young woman cares deeply about the queen and what is in the queen's best interest is most important for Sidonie putting the queen's needs even ahead of her own. As, I got thinking about the film, I think this part of it really had an impact on me and touched me and made me think in several ways. Here is a young woman who is more, or less an orphan and goes about her life serving and thinking of ways to keep the queen happy even though she herself lives in squalor and does not have the material wealth, possessions, or honour that the queen has. The queen seems to have everything and yet seems only to think about herself, whereas Sidonie was born with nothing and lives with nothing, but feels in her heart and soul that it is her job to serve the queen and she will do so no matter what, even if there could be consequences to her decisions. My only other complaint about the film was that at times it did feel a bit rushed and maybe moved from one event to another quite quickly, but that did not stop my enjoyment of the film, I think it just asks us as viewers to be a little more patient and do some of the character analysis, or study on our own, or even after the film is over. Even though the film does move by fast we are especially treated to a very good character study of Sidonie, who I think is the most interesting character in the film and probably the one we can relate to and even care about the most. She seems the most human whereas everyone else really does seem to be looking out for themselves and not really caring about what happens to the person next to them. The film does a credible job of showing the majestic costumes and lavish clothes and settings where Marie Antoinette lives, but at the same time it shows the dark and dingy place where Sidonie eats and sleeps and basically calls home. There is an element here showing a class struggle between these two characters and the more you think of it, the more evident it becomes. Farewell, My Queen is a good looking film with a terrific performance by Lea Seydoux, good character study and a film that gives us much to think about and even more to appreciate after the film is over and we have thought it over for awhile. As, I have said before, this is the quality of a great film.

Markus Emilio Robinson If you are expecting a French film chronicling the last days of Marie Antoinette, then you may be in for a slight disappointment. Brilliantly directed by the Benoit Jacquot (who also co-wrote the much less impressive script) and starring Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette and Lea Seydoux, who plays one of the Queen's readers named Sidonie Laborde, and is also the protagonist of this film (for some reason) "Farewell, My Queen" is advertised as the story of the last days of Marie Antoinette, but it's more like the somewhat muted story of the two months before the "last days" of Marie Antoinette. So, even though "Farewell, My Queen" is a better movie than Sofia Coppola's ill advised, indie rock inspired, "Marie Antoinette", due to the faux-final-days story structure, in conjunction with the fact that "Farewell, My Queen" uses Marie Antoinette as a side character, telling the story from the point of view of Sidonie Laborde (a nobody) this is a film which may have many audiences scratching their heads as to why the need to show this particular moment in the life of Marie Antoinette.As I alluded to above, "Farewell My Queen" chronicles a miniscule portion in time during the last months of Marie Antoinette's reign. However, audiences are not treated to "the good part", or the part they undoubtedly came to see. What I mean by this is there are almost no visuals of the actual Revolution, plus (and more importantly) we don't actually get to witness the final days of Marie Antoinette's life simply because "Farewell, My Queen" curiously plays out through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting. Instead, audiences are forced to sit through a pseudo-love story that focuses not on the very interesting end of Marie Antoinette's reign, but on the minutiae right before it! This film is the equivalent of sitting through the love story of Jack and Rose, with the movie ending just before the Titanic strikes the iceberg. Yes, I am aware that this is a script which was adapted from a critically acclaimed novel by Chantal Thomas, BUT it still doesn't make the story's focus any less misguided. I mean, there are some scenes which do attempt to create a somewhat intriguing love story, an aspect which must be fully accredited to some fantastic mood setting by Jacquot, but in the same vein, this film never rises above said simplistic love story.Side Note: Another issue many audiences will likely come across is how frivolously "Farewell, My Queen" throws its viewers right into the deep end of this story, with little exposition. In fact, the greatest individual flaw which hinders "Farewell, My Queen" will be seen in the audiences immediate realization that neither Jacquot's visuals or the engaging performances (which I will speak about later) are going to give those not formally versed in the players of the French Revolution and the fall of Versailles, the background information they may desperately desire, as this film half-introduces more and more characters of seeming importance. So, do yourself a favor, if you are going to see "Farewell, My Queen" (at the very least) peruse the Marie Antoinette Wiki page before going to see this film.With that said, the visuals (the set design in conjunction with the director) are somewhat breathtaking at times, due to Jacquot making some very brave directorial choices, including tons of long takes which trail behind characters as they weave in and out of crowds, giving audiences an intimate feeling of the atmosphere of late 1700's France, and a few beautifully constructed shots of the landscapes. And I guess it doesn't hurt that the two female leads, Seydoux and Kruger, both give engaging performances. But even if Kruger's interpretation of Antoinette is one of the best I've ever seen and Seydoux is so captivating to watch as she effortlessly takes control of the movie every time she is on screen, there is simply not enough in the story or the writing to give reasoning to the eccentric behavior or motives behind the actions of Marie Antoinette or (more importantly) give a reason as to why Sidonie is so infatuated with her. So, even though, in the latter half of the film (more than an hour in) Jacquot does create an atmosphere which allows these characters to somewhat blossom, many will find it hard to care about a Marie Antoinette story that contains no beheadings.Final Thought: Based on a "last days" plot which attempts to imitate a much better film like "Downfall", even with some spectacular direction and two engaging female performances, "Farewell, My Queen" is nothing more than this year's "My Week With Marilyn", telling a story which focuses on characters nobody really cares about, rather than simply creating a storyline around the life/last days of (in this case) Marie Antoinette. So, even if you are a Marie Antoinette fan, with the overall structure the way it is, "Farewell, My Queen" is nothing more than DVD worthy at best.Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus Find more review at: movieswithmarkusonline.blogspot.com