Having seen the Versailles drama series that came from the same production company, i was very well aware this wouldn't be a historically accurate depiction of MA's life as Queen of France. Versailles was character driven and relied heavily on drama but it balanced it out with actual historical events peppered throughout the 3 season span of the series.
Apparently, historical accuracy has to be sacrificed for the sake of hyperbolic drama and fictional situations to keep the viewers interested and stretch out the story to accomodate more seasons. I've practically become accustomed to seeing historical figures parade around like modern day bratty young adults so i did not go into this show expecting a time travel experience, even though most period drama fans watch these shows exactly for that reason. It is not however outrageous to expect some historical accuracy when the subject is about a real, very polarizing historical figure that lived in the past and has been tightly linked to tumultuous events that changed the course of European history forever. Surely, it has to be dramatized in some level but i believe her life was dramatic enough without the added fluff of the screenwriters. We can have a good, entertaining show without unnecessary profanity and stilted, awkward dialogue. It is not much to ask for.
We could do without the distracting shimmery eyeshadow and intense eyeliner on each scene or the hair looking as if it was gone through with a paintbrush at the roots or the towering hairstyles resemble crusty seeweed with tons of hairspray. We could have the royal mistress with the beach wave do behave accordingly in her position instead of making us cringe at the preposterous sight of a Dauphine bowing to a former courtesan or said courtesan giving love lessons to the future Queen of France and marching in her bedroom whenever she pleases. It would have been hilarious if the actual account of MA getting a chamberpot emptied on her by accident as she was strolling by Du Barry's apartments was included in the show. Apart from it being a funny moment, It would have added more fuel to the fire in her stance against Du Barry.
We could show the strict etiquette we keep mentioning in every episode but no one seems to be following in practice. We could certainly NOT have the King who was very dear to her in real life, act like a disgusting creep around his teenage daughter in law.
My biggest disappointment in this new take on the fateful Queen of France is the end result seems rushed, clunky and definitely not sporting enough budget to faithfully portray the excess and decadence that characterized the palace of Versailles and its residents.
The famous spendthrift fashion icon owns approximately 3 dresses and the rest of the royal family make do with a couple of outfits on rotation. There are some pretty pieces in there but they don't make up for the frugal costume department and the complete absence of courtiers living in the enormous palace grounds. In some shots you can clearly tell that there are less than 20 people roaming the Versailles gardens. If you can't afford the obscene extravagance of 18th century France, how are you going to justify the uproar of the peasants in the next season, if there is another?
Paris life is non existent as a contrast and we are exclusively following Marie Antoinette and her relationship with the royal family in the palace, which is obviously not set in Versailles besides a few external shots of the gardens and the famous Hall of Mirrors.
MA, in this so called 'feminist' take, is portrayed as a naive little girl unaware of her duty and obligations who wants to make her own rules and live la dolce vita as she pleases without following guidelines imposed on her and all that jazz. Now what the movement of feminism, which didn't exist even as an idea in her time, has to do with Marie Antoinette is lost on me; i would guess this was just a marketing ploy to lure in gullible viewers who want to see a notorious Queen as a strong willed woman in a male dominated world instead of exploring her psyche and her struggles in a non cliched way.
The most obvious weakness in the script is her feeling claustrophobic in her new surroundings yet we see no evidence of the cause. Her life at Versailles doesn't seem so different to the life she had in the court of Vienna so what is making her feel like a prisoner in Versailles? Besides a few mentions to the etiquette MA doesn't seem too restricted in her new role. In real life she felt suffocated by the court etiquette she was forced to perform everyday but we don't get to see the repetitive performance she loathed to give to her courtiers several times each day and having no other alternative, Petit Trianon ended up being her beloved retreat away from the stifling atmosphere of the palace. She even had mirrors installed in her windows to keep prying eyes away and no one could set foot over there without a personal invitation by the Queen herself. This, of course, was not taken lightly by the court or the general public because the Queen of France hiding away gave the impression she had secrets and created suspicion which in return fueled the malicious rumor mill about her private life. We see none of that in this series which should have been the core of the first season.
Instead, the palace is her playground and everybody in that family is presented as a heinous human being while the poor little dauphine strives to survive in a court full of mean and conceited people who have no other character trait other than plotting behind her back.
It's very similar to the Sofia Coppola film which portrayed MA as another teen girl longing for freedom and happiness although it doesn't do any favors to seeing her as nothing more as a vaccuous privileged royal who existed at the expense of others. Even though I am sympathetic towards MA and how she was used as a scapegoat, i do not feel much for her in these Disney like adaptations. She had more personality traits than loving gambling and parties. Notice how none of these adaptations ever include her adopted children, particularly little Jean Almilcar who was gifted to her as a slave and she sent him to a boarding school with all the expenses covered up until the Revolution.
Important character traits are shoved aside in favor of speculated affairs or fictional sideplots where her closest friends are either undercover spies or secretly in love with her.
If you expect a more human version of her you won't find it here; she's as superficial as she can get, but without the glamour that made her famous in her time period. There's a forced romance shoehorned in the last couple of episodes and it's as anticlimactic as the rest of the season which spends an awful lot of time meandering about MA and Louis's failed attempts at conceiving an heir.
In conclusion, this show could have potential if the script was given more time to flourish into something more than cheap tv drama. The royals are uppity, shrieking caricatures and generally hard to watch with that childish manner they go about in scheming against the young dauphine. Everything is too on the nose and dramatic; if this gets green lit for another season they shouldn't skip or alter the events leading up to the Revolution and Marie's active involvement after the family was imprisoned at the Tuilleries palace in Paris. It should be interesting to see how they'll approach the subject but i have my doubts about the execution, no pun intended.
And yes, the show should have been in French. 100%.
Apparently, historical accuracy has to be sacrificed for the sake of hyperbolic drama and fictional situations to keep the viewers interested and stretch out the story to accomodate more seasons. I've practically become accustomed to seeing historical figures parade around like modern day bratty young adults so i did not go into this show expecting a time travel experience, even though most period drama fans watch these shows exactly for that reason. It is not however outrageous to expect some historical accuracy when the subject is about a real, very polarizing historical figure that lived in the past and has been tightly linked to tumultuous events that changed the course of European history forever. Surely, it has to be dramatized in some level but i believe her life was dramatic enough without the added fluff of the screenwriters. We can have a good, entertaining show without unnecessary profanity and stilted, awkward dialogue. It is not much to ask for.
We could do without the distracting shimmery eyeshadow and intense eyeliner on each scene or the hair looking as if it was gone through with a paintbrush at the roots or the towering hairstyles resemble crusty seeweed with tons of hairspray. We could have the royal mistress with the beach wave do behave accordingly in her position instead of making us cringe at the preposterous sight of a Dauphine bowing to a former courtesan or said courtesan giving love lessons to the future Queen of France and marching in her bedroom whenever she pleases. It would have been hilarious if the actual account of MA getting a chamberpot emptied on her by accident as she was strolling by Du Barry's apartments was included in the show. Apart from it being a funny moment, It would have added more fuel to the fire in her stance against Du Barry.
We could show the strict etiquette we keep mentioning in every episode but no one seems to be following in practice. We could certainly NOT have the King who was very dear to her in real life, act like a disgusting creep around his teenage daughter in law.
My biggest disappointment in this new take on the fateful Queen of France is the end result seems rushed, clunky and definitely not sporting enough budget to faithfully portray the excess and decadence that characterized the palace of Versailles and its residents.
The famous spendthrift fashion icon owns approximately 3 dresses and the rest of the royal family make do with a couple of outfits on rotation. There are some pretty pieces in there but they don't make up for the frugal costume department and the complete absence of courtiers living in the enormous palace grounds. In some shots you can clearly tell that there are less than 20 people roaming the Versailles gardens. If you can't afford the obscene extravagance of 18th century France, how are you going to justify the uproar of the peasants in the next season, if there is another?
Paris life is non existent as a contrast and we are exclusively following Marie Antoinette and her relationship with the royal family in the palace, which is obviously not set in Versailles besides a few external shots of the gardens and the famous Hall of Mirrors.
MA, in this so called 'feminist' take, is portrayed as a naive little girl unaware of her duty and obligations who wants to make her own rules and live la dolce vita as she pleases without following guidelines imposed on her and all that jazz. Now what the movement of feminism, which didn't exist even as an idea in her time, has to do with Marie Antoinette is lost on me; i would guess this was just a marketing ploy to lure in gullible viewers who want to see a notorious Queen as a strong willed woman in a male dominated world instead of exploring her psyche and her struggles in a non cliched way.
The most obvious weakness in the script is her feeling claustrophobic in her new surroundings yet we see no evidence of the cause. Her life at Versailles doesn't seem so different to the life she had in the court of Vienna so what is making her feel like a prisoner in Versailles? Besides a few mentions to the etiquette MA doesn't seem too restricted in her new role. In real life she felt suffocated by the court etiquette she was forced to perform everyday but we don't get to see the repetitive performance she loathed to give to her courtiers several times each day and having no other alternative, Petit Trianon ended up being her beloved retreat away from the stifling atmosphere of the palace. She even had mirrors installed in her windows to keep prying eyes away and no one could set foot over there without a personal invitation by the Queen herself. This, of course, was not taken lightly by the court or the general public because the Queen of France hiding away gave the impression she had secrets and created suspicion which in return fueled the malicious rumor mill about her private life. We see none of that in this series which should have been the core of the first season.
Instead, the palace is her playground and everybody in that family is presented as a heinous human being while the poor little dauphine strives to survive in a court full of mean and conceited people who have no other character trait other than plotting behind her back.
It's very similar to the Sofia Coppola film which portrayed MA as another teen girl longing for freedom and happiness although it doesn't do any favors to seeing her as nothing more as a vaccuous privileged royal who existed at the expense of others. Even though I am sympathetic towards MA and how she was used as a scapegoat, i do not feel much for her in these Disney like adaptations. She had more personality traits than loving gambling and parties. Notice how none of these adaptations ever include her adopted children, particularly little Jean Almilcar who was gifted to her as a slave and she sent him to a boarding school with all the expenses covered up until the Revolution.
Important character traits are shoved aside in favor of speculated affairs or fictional sideplots where her closest friends are either undercover spies or secretly in love with her.
If you expect a more human version of her you won't find it here; she's as superficial as she can get, but without the glamour that made her famous in her time period. There's a forced romance shoehorned in the last couple of episodes and it's as anticlimactic as the rest of the season which spends an awful lot of time meandering about MA and Louis's failed attempts at conceiving an heir.
In conclusion, this show could have potential if the script was given more time to flourish into something more than cheap tv drama. The royals are uppity, shrieking caricatures and generally hard to watch with that childish manner they go about in scheming against the young dauphine. Everything is too on the nose and dramatic; if this gets green lit for another season they shouldn't skip or alter the events leading up to the Revolution and Marie's active involvement after the family was imprisoned at the Tuilleries palace in Paris. It should be interesting to see how they'll approach the subject but i have my doubts about the execution, no pun intended.
And yes, the show should have been in French. 100%.