selenak

A Royal Exchange: based on a novel by Chantal Thomas, who also wrote the equally filmed Farewell My Queen. A Royal Exchange was directed by Marc Dugan, picks an earlier 18th century brief interlude in French (and Spanish) history, and has the problem that while there's nothing wrong with it and the visuals are suitably gorgeous, there's nothing gripping about it, either. The story: France is damn near broke and bled out by too many wars under Louis XIV, so Philippe II. d'Orleans, Regent of France, arranges for two marriages supposed to solidify French/Spanish (and thus also European) peace and ensure the current King of Spain, who happens to be the late Sun King's grandson, will keep his word and won't claim the French succession. The marriages in question: eleven years old Louis XV marries four years old Maria Anna Viktoria of Spain, twelve years old Louise Elisabeth d'Orleans (Philippe II.' daughter) marries fourteen years old Don Luis of Spain.

The film puts the main narrative emphasis on the two girls - Maria Anna is an adorable moppet who charms everyone at the French court, except Louis (who resents having to share his beloved governess Madame de Ventadour with her, and also doesn't know what to do with a four years old kid, his own siblings all having died as did his parents) and scheming courtier Condé; Louise Elisabeth (played by an actress who doesn't look 12 at all - I assumed 17 or 18 at least when I watched) is a teenage nihilist quickly pissing off everyone in Spain (except for husband Luis, who fancies her, and is a bit dumb, but not malicious). But there are several good character scenes for the rest of the ensemble; the most sympathetic character among the adults easily is Madame de Ventadour, introduced at the very start of the film by the scene which was her historical moment of awesome, as she was the governess of two years old Louis when he was a minor younger prince, and then first smallpox and then measles wiped out his entire family and most of the male heirs to the French throne in rapid succession, helped by incompetent doctors who bled and bled and bled everyone. Except for two years old Louis, since Madame de Ventadour locked herself up with him and didn't let the doctors anywhere near him. He survived, and that's the introduction scene, after which we cut to eleven years old Louis visiting Versailles again for the first time after the death of Louis XIV, his great-grandfather. (Philippe the Regent had moved everyone to Paris, and so Versailles became Ghost Town for some years.) Other characters who manage to be interesting in their short screen time are Philip V. of Spain, guilt-ridden because of the Spanish War of Succession and the thousands of dead people left by it (though sadly the movie only shows one of the ways he dealt with his depression, the flogging, and not the other, which was hiring Castrato superstar Farinelli and having him perform exclusively for himself for the rest of Philip's life), Philippe the Regent (who frustratingly if historically accurately dies early on and who has claims of being the smartest guy in the film), and in an old age cameo his mother, Liselotte of the Palatinate (the first scene of whom made me mutter a protest, but her subsequent scenes are far more how she comes across in her letters).

Now I had a small casting problem because the two actors playing on the one hand Louis' gay friend and on the other hand the schemer Condé who is after the Regent, then the PM job look enough alike for me to be confused and assume they're the same character, and only when one of them (the gay friend) dropped out of the plot while the other remained and there was dialogue about it did I realise these were two distinct people. But my much larger problem is that the story of the movie made me go "yes, and?"; and I'm so much the target audience, with my current 18th century interests. By which I mean: of course child marriages are wrong, underage monarchs doubly so, and there' something inherently tragic about the kids that way. But of the four characters, one couple doesn't change through the film - Maria Anna is an adorable little girl from start to finish, Louis is a lonely (and possessive of the few people he's attached to) kid who won't have the slightest idea of how to rule France from start to finish, and sure, the credits (or google) can tell you Maria Anna later went on to prove as Queen of Portugal that France had missed out of a competent and energetic Queen when Louis sent her back, but in the end, it was politics. (I.e. the need to sire an heir and the unwillingness to risk having to wait for another decade while being the sole male Bourbon left alive - except for cousin Philip V. across the border.) Louise Elisabeth gets some actual character development, going from sulky rebellious teen with "I hate everything" attitude to warming up to her steadfastly adoring husband, only for him to tragically die of smallpox which makes her superflous at the Spanish Court and sent back to France as well. This, in theory, should have grabbed me - I like the "arranged marriage turns real" trope if done well. But Luis isn't given anything to endear him to the viewer other than not letting his quickly indignant parents sent Louise Elisabeth back even earlier, and it's hard to see what his affection for her is supposed to based on, other than her looks and thus teenage drooling. So it felt to me Louise Elisabeth mostly starts to like him because of sheer loneliness and his being the only person who has affection for her. Not unrealistic, I suppose, but still depressing.

So in the end, when one marriage has been dissolved and the other ended by death and the two girls are sent back to their respective countries, I feel I've watched a beautifully illustrated history book, but I'm still not sure why everyone involved wanted to make this film, other than '"Farewell My Queen" was a success, let's do that again" maybe? But Farewell My Queen had three interesting main characters, and our pov character really changed through the story, finishing it differently than she had started it, plus the perspective of Versailles on the eve of the revolution as seen through the eyes of the staff felt fresh, not stale. Whereas I'm not sorry I watched this one (on Amazon Prime), but I can't really reccommend it unless you have two hours to kill and want to watch some beautiful cinematography with 18th century costumes.