Sofia Coppola may have turned her attention to Priscilla Presley, but Marie Antoinette will still be flouncing across our screens once again this autumn. Following the Hollywood auteur’s divisive 2006 biopic, The Favourite scribe Deborah Davis has penned an eight-part series about the Austrian-born queen, with German actor Emilia Schüle taking on the lead role opposite British talent Louis Cunningham’s ill-fated Louis XVI.
Like Jodie Turner-Smith’s Anne Boleyn, Marie Antoinette will offer a feminist take on the life of the princess, who married the dauphin of France at just 14-years-old, becoming queen shortly before her 20th birthday. “Marie Antoinette arrived as a 14½-year-old like a stunned rabbit… and they all stared at her like, ‘Who is this revolting little Austrian archduchess?’” Davis told Variety of the project. “She didn’t stand a chance. But Marie Antoinette comes from a very long line of extremely strong-willed, spirited women, and she took them on.”
Marie Antoinette’s attempts to navigate the French court, as well as the immense pressure she faced to have a son who would continue the Bourbon line, will be central to the plot. Her first child with Louis XVI famously arrived a full eight years after their wedding, leading to much negative speculation about the couple among the public. Naturally, much of the blame for their childlessness fell on the princess – although historians have now posited that Louis XVI refused to touch his wife until seven years into their marriage. Decidedly less hands-off? Her grandfather-in-law, Louis XV (James Purefoy), whose attempts to welcome Marie Antoinette into the family took an unusual turn when he allegedly tried to sleep with her – one of many traumas she reportedly endured during her early years in France.
Also due to be covered in the series: Louis XV’s relationship with Madame du Barry (Gaia Weiss), a courtesan born into poverty who became the King’s maîtresse-en-titre – only to find herself banished from court after the accession of Louis XVI. (The elder king even arranged a marriage to a country squire to give Du Barry a guise of “respectability”, then had her installed in a 14-room suite above his own private quarters.) Du Barry would later be executed during the Revolution on charges of treason.
Producing the series: the same team behind Versailles, which traced the establishment of rigidly formal etiquette by Louis XIV outside of Paris – while Marie Antoinette will focus on the myriad ways in which the young French queen railed against the very restrictions the Sun King put in place. Among the historic shooting locations? Château de Fontainebleau and Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, in addition to Versailles itself and a vast studio in Bry-sur-Marne containing a recreation of the palace, constructed over a period of nearly three months. Many of the costumes, too, have been painstakingly made by hand – with myriad Chanel employees among those working in the wardrobe department.
BBC Two will air the drama in the UK either later this year or in early 2023, with Canal+ due to release it in France within a month. In the meantime, plan a visit to Marie Antoinette’s freshly restored apartments.
