Five Films Exploring Life and Intrigue at Versailles
Le Deluge
Director Gianluca Jodice sidesteps the glitz of royal excess, focusing instead on a pivotal moment for a nation, a monarchy, and a family. Marie-Antoinette (Mélanie Laurent) and Louis (Guillaume Canet) are stripped of their titles and the freedom to roam their palace. Now, they and their children await their fate in confinement. At first, the couple bristles at the loss of luxury, but despair soon creeps in, extinguishing the last flickers of hope in their eyes.
Jodice crafts an intimate, wistful film that, in just 90 minutes, bids farewell to an entire era. Typically, Marie-Antoinette dazzles in lavish gowns amid opulent halls, but in Le Deluge—retitled The Fall of the Crown—Mélanie Laurent delivers a nuanced performance, channeling the fury and sorrow of a queen who will never return to her fairy-tale Versailles.
Marie Antoinette
Sofia Coppola has a soft spot for tales of melancholy girls, and her Marie-Antoinette, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, is the epitome of a forlorn aristocrat—yearning for love yet drowning in solitude. Versailles becomes a gilded cage, every eye fixed on the young Austrian newcomer. Overwhelmed by scrutiny and her husband’s indifference, the queen escapes into endless revelry and romantic dalliances.
Delicate gowns, stylish hats, towers of pastries, and countless glasses of champagne—she denies herself nothing. Versailles pulses with hedonism, blissfully unaware of the world beyond its gates. The people’s cries are still distant, the revolution years away. Where Jodice shows a broken Marie-Antoinette, Coppola captures her vibrant zest for life and fleeting sense of ease. The film doesn’t end in a cell but in a carriage, with the queen casting one last glance at the palace’s tree-lined avenue as she and her family speed toward an uncertain future.
Les adieux à la reine
Here, the spotlight shifts from Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI to Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux), the queen’s devoted reader. Sidonie gazes at her mistress (Diane Kruger) with reverence, fulfilling every whim and bristling at any slight against the Austrian queen. We learn little of Sidonie herself—her world revolves around serving Versailles and pleasing Marie-Antoinette.
Benoît Jacquot’s film fascinates through its perspective: set during the French Revolution’s opening days, it portrays the monarchy’s twilight through the eyes of the palace staff. Rumors of rebellion reach the servants’ quarters, while leaflets listing those marked for execution circulate the halls. Anxiety grips not just the royal chambers but all of Versailles, as fear of the unknown takes hold. Farewell, My Queen doesn’t rush to recount familiar history. Instead, it lingers on July 14, 15, and 16, 1789—three restless days after which nothing will ever be the same.
Jeanne du Barry
Maïwenn offers a brisk retelling of Jeanne du Barry’s life (playing the role herself)—a book-loving courtesan who captivates Louis XV (Johnny Depp) and claims a place at court. The king’s kin fume, but Louis is smitten, and Jeanne flouts every rule of decorum, shocking onlookers by donning men’s clothing and riding astride.
The arrival of young bride Marie-Antoinette signals a shift: Jeanne is no longer the court’s leading lady. The Austrian princess (Pauline Pollmann) opts to follow the crowd and snub the king’s favorite. Maïwenn’s lens captures Versailles as a daily carnival of feasting and scheming, where every glance and offhand remark carries weight.
Chevalier
Chevalier unveils the French elite of the late 18th century through the eyes of a Black man, conductor Joseph Bologne Saint-Georges (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). The illegitimate son of a planter and an enslaved woman, Joseph conquers Paris and Marie-Antoinette with his musical genius. A gifted violinist, he climbs the social ladder but remains an outsider in a racist society that revels in his music yet refuses to see him as equal—even after Marie-Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) grants him the title of «chevalier.»
As Joseph battles prejudice, vies for a coveted opera post, and falls for the enchanting Marie-Joséphine (Samara Weaving), revolutionary slogans echo through Paris. The uprising will soon sever his bond with the queen, placing them on opposite sides. Stephen Williams’ film is worth watching, if only to discover a composer history overlooked—and to marvel, once again, at how perfectly Lucy Boynton suits a period setting.
