After
3 ‘summer’ movies: Spiderman, Batman and Total Recall, I was ready for a
quiet, no special effects, no car chases, no knock ‘em, sock ‘em fights
movie so I went to see “Farewell, My Queen”  not realizing that it
takes place during the French revolution. I don’t know much about that
time in history, except that my nephew was born on Bastille Day over 50
years ago, so I was ready to sit back and learn plus enjoy the scenes,
which is most of them, that were filmed at the palace of Versailles
which became the unofficial capital of France during the revolution..

There
weren’t any car chases, special effects or fights but the movie was a
love triangle between the Queen Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), the
queen's reader Sidonie Laborder (Lea Seydoux) and Duchess Gabrielle de
Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen) as seen through the eyes of Sidonie,

Based
on a novel by Chantal Thomas, with a screenplay by Giles Taurant and
Benoit Jacquot, the latter also directing, I have no idea if the basic
premise of Antoinette being a lesbian, or having a same sex affair, is
true or not but the film gives a sort of  “Upstairs, Downstairs” look at
the palace during the late 1700s.

Sidonie,
like most servants, has very limited knowledge of what goes on between
the royalty but also what is happening outside the gates as their life
is mainly in the palace. Gossip is the main way of getting news and
there is a strict ‘chain’ of command starting with the Queen’s
lady-in-waiting and going down to all those who attend the Queen. It is
never explained how, or where, Sidonie learned to read and write or are
we told anything about her background until, literally, the last minute
of the film. While there is no sex shown between the women there are 2
scenes explicitly showing the love shared between the Queen and Duchess
and the jealousy Sidonie feels towards the latter and her yearning for
the former. There is one quick, unfinished sex scene between Sidonie and
a gondolier, without nudity, while two of the women have scenes with
frontal nudity.

Most
of the film takes place within the palace and very little of the
revolution is actually shown. All we really learn is what Sidonie hears
and sees. The ending of the film will come as a surprise to many people
but I am not talking about what is history but what happens to Sidonie.

The
cast is stellar from the leads to the supporting players and the
production values are first rate, except at times I found the background
music more annoying than effective. While the history of the film held
my interest the personnel story didn’t get me involved.