Farewell My Queen (2012)

Farewell My Queen (2012)

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Farewell, My Queen (French: Les Adieux à la reine) is a 2012 French drama film directed by Benoît Jacquot and based on the novel of the same name by Chantal Thomas, who won the Prix Femina in 2002. It gives a fictional account of the last days of Marie Antoinette in power seen through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde, a young servant who reads aloud to the queen. The film stars Diane Kruger as the Queen, Léa Seydoux, and Virginie Ledoyen.

It opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012 and has subsequently been screened at other festivals. Its release date was 21 March 2012 in France.

1789, at the eve of the Revolution, the court at the Palace of Versailles still live their routines, relatively unconcerned by the increasing turmoil in Paris a distance away. The routines are seen through the eyes of the young Sidonie Laborde, who serves Queen Marie Antoinette.

When news about the storming of the Bastille reaches the Court, most aristocrats and servants desert the Palace, fearing that the government is falling. They abandon the Royal Family. But Sidonie Laborde, a young servant who is the Queen's reader, has a crush on her and refuses to flee. She feels secure under the protection of the Royal Family. She does not know these are the last three days she will spend by the Queen's side.