Review: _Farewell, My Queen_ is an interesting snapshot of a lost world

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One of the nice things about having a prime membership over at Amazon.com is that I have access to a wide array of foreign films. A recent selection was the film "Les adieux à la reine" -- Farewell My Queen -- set in the fading days of the French monarchy and the storming of the Bastille. Life at the palace of Versailles is a rough one for a young lady-in-waiting, Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux). With her room tucked away in the attics, quite bare of any luxuries, she's on call at any hour as the reader to the Queen, Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger). The film opens with the Queen lolling in her chemise in bed, as Sidonie reads to her. In contrast, the queen's rooms are lavish with gilded decorations and ornaments, and we quickly find out the queen is very capricious in her whims. Clothing is ordered at a moment's notice, no matter the cost, with the queen choosing her materials from her 'fashion book,' a sampler of materials and designs. What Sidonie thinks of this we never find out. She's just happy to be part of Marie Antoinette's circle, never mind the rigid etiquette. But quickly enough, we find out what -does- needle the young woman -- namely the Queen's favourite, the Duchess de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen). The queen and duchess share a deeply emotional relationship, and if the rumours are to be believed, it's a sexual one as well. Sidonie aches for the Queen to love her as well, but she knows that it isn't about to happen. Even at Versailles there's a servant issue, and there's quite a few problems starting to appear in the facade. Mosquitoes ravage servant and courtier alike, and discovering rats in the fountains and in the kitchen isn't a rarity. No one bothers to hide their affairs, and everyone wants a glimpse of the King Louis XVI (Xavier Beauvois). It's a very artificial world, and it's the 14th of July, 1789,,, I really wanted to like this movie. The look is nearly perfect, what with lavish production values and terrific costumes and settings. Based on the novel by Chantal Thomas, I had a hard time with this. I never really connected with either Sidonie or the Queen, despite liking that the former was bookish, and the latter a very sympathetic character. But Sidonie is our observer, and the Queen is such a flitterwit that I couldn't drop enough disbelief to accept her. I felt as though I was being held at arm's reach, and that's just too bad. This has a hard R rating, what with one suicide, and two naked female bodies, with frontal nudity, so this probably isn't appropriate for children of any age. The translating is fairly good, in French with English subtitles. The good parts is that a good portion of this was filmed at Versailles itself, which adds mightily to the right feel. If you like costume dramas or the tales of the French Revolution, I would recommend this one. But be warned that your attention may waver part way through. I give it three and a half stars, good, but not great or memorable.