Tea at Trianon: Previewing 'The Flood' (2024)

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Previewing 'The Flood' (2024)

Marie-Antoinette by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1788, Chateau de Versailles — The real Marie-Antoinette in a redingote – *by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1788 | Chateau de Versailles*

A fashion historian assesses the trailer of Le Déluge. It is incorrect to show Madame Elisabeth always in black. Why would she be in mourning while the rest of the family is not? And Madame de Lamballe did not have red hair; she was a blonde. From Frock Flicks:

The Flood (2024), aka Le Déluge, is opening in late December in France. It tells the story of the final days/weeks/months of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, as the French Revolution gets going and the two eventually lose their lives. Given my interest in the period and all things Marie-Antoinette-y, you can bet I’m waiting impatiently for this to be released in the US!
[...]
The film stars Guillaume Canet (Cézanne et moi) as Louis, Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds, Operation Finale) as Marie-Antoinette, and Roxane Duran (The White Ribbon, Mary Queen of Scots, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Marie Antoinette, and Interview with the Vampire) as the Princesse de Lamballe.

The film’s costumes are designed by Massimo Cantini Parrini, so they’re going to be good! (Read more.)