First came Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, the 2006 biopic of the luxurious but short life of the French Queen; equipped with its punk soundtrack and plenty of macaroons. Now comes a further retelling of the ill-fated wife of King Louis XVI. From the The Favourite writer Deborah Davis, an eight-part drama series offers a dazzlingly glamorous drama to tuck into this month.
This retelling offers a previously untold feminist take on the life of the princess who was wrenched from her family at the age of 14 ‘like a stunned rabbit’ and treated as a political pawn. ‘They all [Versailles] started at her on arrival like, “Who is this revolting little Austrian archduchess?”’ Davis said in a previous interview.
With the series now available to binge-watch in full on BBC iPlayer, Tatler brings you everything you need to know about the show, including an interview with the team behind the awe-inspiring costumes…
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The Costumes
With two dresses designed by Dior, the costumes are a dazzling spectacle. Speaking to Tatler, costume designers Madeline Fontaine and Marie Fremont talked about the outfit journey which Marie Antoinette goes through in the series. ‘She was reacting very hard against the cage she found herself in,’ explained Madeline. ‘She expresses herself as someone who wanted to get out of the cage, and you can see it in the costumes. At the beginning, we have royal colours: blue, silver and pale green, whereas by the end she wears deeper colours.’
Move over Queen Charlotte, we’ve got a new monarch to meet at the Palace of Versailles. Tatler sits down with Emilia Schüle to talk about the rebel dauphine, her ‘real life Louis’ and why she’s grown tired of Paris
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One show-stopping moment comes in the form of Marie Antoinette’s wedding dress, which costume designer Marie explains, ‘we chose for it not to be as big as it was in reality, because we thought that for our modern eyes it would be too much’. Her wedding dress is still dazzlingly magnificent on screen, Marie continues, ‘the script she was described as a Chinese doll and I think that was an interesting vision: it’s difficult to move and difficult to walk because it's so heavy. Which was I think not very comfortable for Amelia but I think will be interesting for the viewers.’
The Plot
The new series tells the story of the incredibly modern and avant-garde young queen who impressed with her charisma and became a fashion icon. The show will follow the story of Marie Antoinette, who married the Dauphin of France at just 14 years old, becoming France’s queen before her 20th birthday. Through the young royal’s perspective, it will reimagine her attempts to navigate the French court, as well as the pressure she faced to have a son to continue the Bourbon line; her first child with Louis XVI famously arrived eight years after their wedding, leading to negative speculation about their relationship both from within the court and from the public.
The Actors
German actress Emilia Schüle will take the lead role opposite British actor Louis Cunningham, who will play Louis XVI.
Appropriately, like his fictional counterpart, Cunningham also comes from a line of royalty. The 24-year-old is the grandson of the late Prince Charles of Luxembourg, who grew up at his mother's court until the German invasion during the Second World War. The young actor, who recently graduated from Oxford, made his debut in Bridgerton last year, appearing as Lord Corning.
Emilia, who recently interviewed for Tatler, is an international, German-born star. Tatler’s picture editor, from Stuttgart in the southwest of the country, says: ‘All German girls my age grew up wanting to be like Emilia,’ drawing parallels with how Americans might feel about Zendaya.
The Setting
Given Marie Antoniette’s capacity for overindulgence and high-octane glamour, the series is a decadent adaptation of 18th-century court life. Filmed in the Palace of Versailles and the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, lavishly dresses courtiers swam around the breathtaking grounds whilst high-drama takes place with a backdrop of gold-encrusted interiors.
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Speaking about Dior, the designers explain that the two dresses crafted for Emilia were ‘more fantasy and less period’. The Dior dresses, one of which is a pastel blue dress at the beginning of the series on the protagonist's first visit to Versailles, and the other of which is a beautiful, flamboyant white number, came from the a mix of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Dior heritage. The dresses designed by Marie and Madeline were far less comfortable (Emilia apparently preferred the Dior dresses), but more accurate, and they say the difference between the two designers made the show more ‘interesting’.
The series made its UK debut on BBC Two and iPlayer on 29 December
