The movie "The Life of Marie Antoinette" was made in black and white due to lack of budget.

September 19, 2024

There aren't many movies about Marie Antoinette.

The remaining summer heat is tough. Thank you for your hard work in this heat.

This time, I will introduce a movie about Marie Antoinette. I was wondering what to watch, but I realized that there were not many movies to watch.

I am a big fan of Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette," but I will save that for another time and instead introduce an old black and white film.

" The Life of Marie Antoinette " was released in the United States in 1938.

The star on the head is what catches your eye. There was also a birdcage on top, and the bird (fake?) inside the cage moved.

(Marie Antoinette met the Swedish ambassador, with whom she would later fall in love, by making the ambassador act as a Russian as a sideshow in a game.)

It was released in the US in 1938, and in Japan in 1966. There was a gap of almost 30 years between them, and I wondered if this was due to the influence of the war.

This movie was made when the footsteps of a major war were approaching. America was neutral at first.

What kind of movie is "The Life of Marie Antoinette"?

This film follows historical events from Marie Antoinette's marriage from the Austrian Habsburgs to the French dynasty to her death during the French Revolution. Although some parts have been cut, this film gives an overall picture of why Marie Antoinette met her tragic end .

It's an American movie, so it's not in French...

The viewing time is quite long, about 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Back then, these kinds of cards were made. They were called lobby cards.

The film was made at the very edge of Hollywood's Golden Age (1920s to 1930s), and its leading actress, Norma Shearer , was a leading actress at MGM studios.

She was popular for her classical and elegant demeanor, something that is rarely seen in actresses these days.

The film won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Actress and Best Art Direction at the Academy Awards, making it a much talked about film.

The film begins with Marie Antoinette meeting her future husband, Louis XVI.

Well, after doing a bit of research I found something interesting.

When a bride enters a noble family, a proxy wedding is held first. It was customary to then have the bride officially enter the family afterwards. In Marie Antoinette's case, she married her brother by proxy before moving to France. It was a strange custom.

I've digressed. After that, Marie Antoinette had a hard time adjusting to life at the Palace of Versailles due to the rules, manners, and relationships, and she gave in to pleasures such as parties.

Her mother, Maria Theresa, sent her many letters admonishing her for her actions, but to no avail. After she became queen, she became an lover with the Swedish ambassador, and she met her end without ever winning the hearts of the people. It's a biographical film.

What I learned from watching the movie "Marie Antoinette"

First of all, Louis XVI is chubby. This was also the case in Sofia Coppola's film. He is portrayed as a man who is not good at interacting with women.

・The gorgeous costumes are visible even in black and white. Because it's black and white, the color of the costumes can't be seen, but the lighting makes them sparkle and shine, whether it's glass on the dress, sequins, or real jewelry. No doubt that was the intention.

I am a little moved by the beauty of this light. However, when I think of the end of the story, which you probably know well, of Queen Marie Antoinette, I think I feel that it is a device that emphasizes the reversal of her life.

・The actor who plays Fersen, the Swedish ambassador who becomes Marie Antoinette's lover, is incredibly handsome. (An actor named Tyrone Power)

Ambassador Fersen tries to help Marie Antoinette until the very end, but to no avail.

Oh, by the way, the details of life at Petit Trinient were omitted in the movie, so I'd like to add a little more detail... I think this is quite important...

< The Queen in a Straw Hat and Muslin Chemise Dress > by Vigée Le Brun

The Petit Trinient was a palace built by Louis XV in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

This is Petit Trinian.

(License notice: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 & GFDL )

It was a small palace with only a dozen rooms (though it was still a big house for commoners), with a view of the forest, a stream, and a temple. After Louis XV died, it became the property of Marie Antoinette.

The Queen, tired of the rule-bound life in the palace, longed for a country life and lived at "Petit Trinient" with her close friends.

There, she often wore dresses with corsets, as well as chemise dresses made of cotton that were loosely fastened around the chest.

Of course, the same goes for his close entourage.

She also spent a great deal of money creating a theatre, gardens and village in Petit Trinient, where she enjoyed herself with her lover, the Swedish ambassador Fersen, and their friends, escaping the unpleasantness and complicated relationships of the palace.

Upon further investigation, one comes to the conclusion that Queen Marie Antoinette may have been indulging in her own pleasures, even though this was an environment in which she could have sensed many things, such as nature, the rebirth of humanity, herself and the common people, and so on.

This is where I feel the Queen is at her breaking point.

Her mother, Maria Theresa, was pregnant with her child and desperately tried to save her home country, Austria, from invasions by neighboring countries because her husband had no interest in politics. In contrast, Marie Antoinette, despite France's poor financial situation and unpopularity among the people, fled to Petit Trinient and refused to face reality .

Or maybe he really didn't understand.

Thinking of Marie Antoinette

I can personally sympathize with her difficulty adjusting to the numerous customs of life at the Palace of Versailles. She must have been confused at the age of 14, coming from a foreign country to a place where she didn't know anyone.

I also think it was unlucky that it took so long for us to have children, although in the end we were blessed with a child.

Considering that it was originally a political marriage between Austria and France, it seems possible that the tragedy arose because Marie Antoinette was unable to completely let go of the idea that she was the daughter of the Austrian Habsburg family (the daughter of the most prestigious of families).

Furthermore, she is engaged in a romance with Ambassador Fersen, but doesn't that just make her position as Queen even worse? The people are suffering from famine and other problems.

The gap between the people and their thoughts. (This is Japan today.)

How do you feel?

The Life of Marie Antoinette Amazon Prime

Incidentally, two years after the film was released in 1938, Paris was occupied.

References

"The Life of Marie Antoinette" by Hitomi Fujimoto, Chuokoron-Shinsha, 1998

"Biographies of French Queens" edited by Yujiro Agawa and Hiroaki Shimanaka, Showado Co., Ltd., 2017