The V&A's current exhibition 'Marie Antoinette Style' is the first exhibition in the UK centred on the Austrian-born French Queen Marie Antoinette. A complex fashion icon, Marie Antoinette's timeless appeal is defined by her style, youth and notoriety. So revolutionary was Marie Antoinette’s style that centuries on, we’re still talking about it. Artists, designers, and filmmakers—from Alexander McQueen to Sofia Coppola—have been captivated.
The ACF London's CineClub presents Court Life, a short series of films inspired by the notorious queen and her iconic style. We begin our series with Farewell my Queen starring Diane Kruger in the role of Marie Antoinette and Léa Seydoux in the role of Sidonie Laborde.
Summer 1789, the French Revolution has commenced. Far from the turmoil, at Versailles, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their courtiers continue their carefree lives. But when the news of the storming of the Bastille reaches them, panic sets in and aristocrats and their servants desert the sinking ship. But not Sidonie Laborde, the Queen's reader. Entirely devoted to her mistress she stays on. What she doesn't know yet is that she will soon become a pawn in a much bigger game.
2012, 100 minutes, directed Benoit Jacquot
FULL PROGRAMME
Mary Queen of Scots
Tuesday 10 February, 7pm
Based on Stefan Zweig's book Maria Stewart this film was adapted for the screen by Andrea Staka, Thomas Imbach and Eduard Habsburg. A queen who lost three kingdoms. A wife who lost three husbands,. A woman, who, like Marie Antoinette, lost her head.
2013, 119 minutes, directed by Thomas Imbach
The Death of Louis XIV
Thursday 12 March, 7pm
The much celebrated director Albert Serra (Birdsong, Pacifiction) continues his contemplative series of studies of legendary figures, both real and fictional (Don Quixote, the Magi, Casanova) with this elegant, mesmerising evocation of the last days of the Sun King. The legendary Jean-Pierre Léaud brings ineffable presence to the title role. Beautifully shot by Jonathan Ricquebourg, the film portrays the arcane system of court protocol while powerfully evoking the distance between the physical body of a decrepit mortal and the mythical being of the monarch as God. A film of stately beauty and philosophical depth.
2017, 115min, directed by Albert Serra
