Marie Antoinette: a pop icon thanks to these films and series

Marie Antoinette is a colorful historical figure whose personality has always fascinated historians and the general public alike. No wonder, therefore, that her life has been romanticized several times on the screens, on television, and in the cinema.

Photo: Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, 2006

Canal + brought an ambitious Franco-British production about Marie Antoinette in 2022. Director Deborah David (screenwriter of 'The Favourite') presents the Archduchess of Austria and the wife of Louis XVI in a new light.

Photo: Canal + (2022)

Divided into 8 episodes, the series traces the destiny of Marie-Antoinette, from the young 14-year-old teenager that she was, to the charismatic icon that she would become at Versailles. 'Marie-Antoinette' describes the last queen of France as a free, independent, and feminist woman.

Photo: Canal + (2022)

The German actress Emilia Schüle was chosen to embody the most famous of the Austrians. The actress is particularly known for having played in the 'Ku'damm' franchise,

At her side in 'Marie-Antoinette' is Louis Cunningham. He plays the role of Louis XVI. This young actor is accustomed to real palace life since he is the son of Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg!

But there is so much more to see about Marie Antoinette! Let's go back to the 1930s. Directed by WS Van Dyke, this American film evokes the tumultuous relationship between King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, as well as the latter's intimate relationship with her lover, the Count of Fersen.

Norma Shearer wonderfully stepped into the shoes of the last queen of France, in this Hollywood signature film. A role that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1939.

In 'Shadow of the Guillotine' ( Marie-Antoinette Reine de France), Jean Delannoy looks back on the events that took place at the Court of France between 1789 and 1793. The vision of this film is benevolent and full of compassion for the Queen.

Michèle Morgan embodies Marie-Antoinette with grace and beauty. Her character is described as fallible, vulnerable, and torn between her love for the king and her passion for her lover.

This French series, broadcast on TF1 in 1975, traces the life of Marie Antoinette in four episodes. To realize it, Guy Lefranc chose a historical and very factual angle, associated with some fictionalized elements.

Geneviève Casile plays a frivolous, spendthrift Marie Antoinette who has no interest in her people. At the end of her life, in the final episode of the series, she is rather portrayed as a courageous and heroic woman.

Divided into two parts, this film (which lasts almost six hours!) celebrates the bicentenary of the French Revolution. Directors Robert Enrico and Richard T. Heffron look back on one of the most (in)famous periods in history, recounting the events that took place between May 1789 and Robespierre's execution in 1794.

Photo: Poster of the film 'The French Revolution'

This is one of the most complex films about Marie Antoinette. The role of the queen is played by the talented Jane Seymour, who would later become the heroine of the cult series 1998 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'.

This American film by Charles Shyer is based on the affair of the queen's diamond necklace, a fraud story that really took place between 1784 and 1786 at the Court of Versailles. Hilary Swank plays the main role of Jeanne de La-Motte-Valois at the origin of this historic fraudulent coup.

Marie Antoinette is not the main character of this feature film, but she remains important in this story. The tormented-faced queen is played by British actress Joely Richardson.

This masterpiece by Sofia Coppola is certainly one of the most famous films about the last Queen of France. It is inspired by the book by Antonia Fraser entitled 'Marie Antoinette', released in 2001. In an atmosphere mixing pop and boat, 'Marie Antoinette' tells the life of an Austrian young woman between 1770 and the revolutionary days of October 1789.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

The film portrays Marie Antoinette as a modern-day queen, focused on parties, pleasures, and excesses. Kirsten Dunst plays a tormented young woman who was too quickly propelled into the spotlight and seeks an escape in the abundance of Versailles.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

Directed by Benoit Jacquot, this film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name published by Chantal Thomas in 2002. 'Farewell, My Queen' takes place during the three days following the storming of the Bastille, between the 15th and the 18th of July 1789, at the Court of Versailles. The film centers on the relationship between Queen Marie Antoinette, played by Diane Kruger, and her young orphan reader, played by Léa Seydoux.

Photo: Still of the film 'Farewell to the Queen'

Diane Kruger embodies a charismatic, icy, and manipulative Marie Antoinette. The film touches on another side of the Queen and assumes that she had an intimate relationship with the Duchesse de Polignac. Bisexuality has never been proven by historians.