Les Adieux à la Reine (Farewell, My Queen) Trailer

Finally, a trailer!!! I have been waiting for this since I read about this movie from Maria Elena Vidal’s Tea at Trianon blog.

Hmmm, watching the trailer, though, had made me every suspicious of the storyline "A look at the relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her readers during the final days of the French Revolution". I hope my suspicion about this movie is incorrect because I want to watch everything about Marie Antoinette, as long as it's based faithfully and historically on reliable sources. There were false rumors spread about Marie Antoinette on tabloids to besmirch her character. One of them was that she engaged in lesbianism. I really hope the movie is not to besmirch her character further by repeating the same lies said about her during her life in France, especially since she can no longer defend her reputation. Hopefully, the movie-makers, who wish to make movies of her, will have the decency to portray her for what she was and not for what she was not just to make a controversial movie and gain viewers. Fact is, she was not a lesbian and never had engaged in lesbianism. If she was and she had, her lady in waiting, Madame Campan, would have mentioned it in her book (By the way, I read that book, "Memoirs of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan"). Back to the movie, I guess I’ll have to wait until it’s shown and see if my suspicion is correct.

For now, here’s the trailer, you be the judge:

L'Autrichienne English Subtitles

Sigh... Where can I find a copy of the movie "L'Autrichienne " with English subtitles! I have been looking everywhere but to no avail! I'm seriously considering to study the French language just so I can understand the French movies. That way I can watch any French movie about Marie Antoinette without feeling so frustrated because of the limiting feeling of the language barrier. If I'm going to study another language it will be like I'm in kindergarten about to start learning my ABC. It's different when you're a kid and you're learning a new language. It's easier because a child is a tabula rasa. They learn without difficulty, like breathing. It comes to them naturally. While older people have so many things in their head that it's hard to take in new things sometimes. Besides, personally, it's not my passion to learn a new language. I studied Spanish but I didn't continue. It's not really hard. I understood the rules but I'm too lazy, I guess. Besides, I don't see why I need to study Spanish. Well, so far, I don't see the need to study it. Maybe in the future. Anyway, that's beside the point. I really think I need to study the French language. I really want to understand the conversation in the movie "L'Autrichienne ". It's the best movie about Marie Antoinette that's ever made so far.

If you have stumbled on this blog, you must be looking for L'Autrichienne subtitles, too. Please drop a comment when you finally found it. Thank you.

Portrait Paintings vs. Portrait Photography

As I was making a sketch of Marie Antoinette for my digital painting, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated about the lack of references I have of her. The only references I could find are paintings of her. Paintings are not like photos. Photos tell you exactly what the person, or subject, looks like. That’s what portrait paintings lack because artists have their own impression of the subject that they’re painting, and it’s only natural that it’s what they will apply on their canvas. That’s the reason why, even though I’m grateful to the painters for giving me a hint of how Marie Antoinette looked like, I find the fact that I don’t have any reliable reference of her exasperating. Nevertheless, I did the best I could with the references that I already have.


Here's my first attempt at making a portrait of Marie Antoinette:

Here's my second attempt:

"L’Autrichienne" - Movie About the Last Days of Marie Antoinette

I’m often asked why I’m so obsessed with the topic about Marie Antoinette. It all started when I first read about her and her demise in a general world history book (a book for high school students). I was in grade school when I read it. It’s my passion to learn about how people used to live in the past that led me to Marie Antoinette. I read that she was executed by the Revolutionists through the guillotine. That’s all I can remember. There were so many information missing that I ended up wondering how she felt about the whole thing; how she felt when she heard the Revolutionists' verdict, how she felt when she was on her way to the scaffold, how she prepared herself and things like that. So, I started looking for more information about her. I checked every book store I could find to look for information but unfortunately they’re not readily available. Until I checked the internet and saw abundant information. Some are false and some are true. It took me great lengths of research to separate false information from the truth. There were so many false rumors and accusations said about her that people still believe. So many people are lazy to do their own research so they settle with what they heard and leave it at that. I think it's unfair that her reputation is still being tainted until today. Finally, I bumped into the movie “L’Autrichienne” - a movie about the trial of Marie Antoinette – starring Ute Lemper. The casting is perfect. To me Ute Lemper is the best choice to play the role of Marie Antoinette. Ute Lemper is German and Marie Antoinette was Austrian, so it’s only fair to think that Ute Lemper’s French accent is also similar to Marie Antoinette’s. I first saw a trailer of L’Autrichienne done by another Marie Antoinette enthusiast – more thanks to her for introducing me to this great and hard-to-find movie. I looked for a DVD copy of it until I got a hold of it. For years I have been wondering about how Marie Antoinette felt when she was imprisoned. The movie showed it effectively; from the damp place where she was imprisoned, her trial and verdict. It also showed that Marie Antoinette was not in good health condition during her last days. It was said that it’s due to severe stress and anxieties. The movie effectively showed Marie Antoinette as a human being who had also felt fear, heartache and pain. She was neither a cold-hearted woman nor a cunning woman as she was pictured of the Revolutionists to be. She was a kind soul. She is innocent of all the things she was accused of and she faced death with courage and with dignity. L’Autrichienne is a great movie. I hope they will make it available in stores again, and this time, internationally.