(Photo by Jean Pierre Leteuil / INA via Getty Images)
My 18th Century Quest combined with my interest in French queen Marie-Antoinette made me decide to watch and recap the 1975 French TV series, Marie-Antoinette, when I discovered it was available for streaming on French streaming site Madalen, which seems to have a lot of older French TV stuff. The only problem is there’s no subtitles available, even in French, and that meant that I missed about half of the dialogue; it’s bad 1970s videography; and the pacing is Very Slow. So after about 20 minutes of attempting, I decided screw it, I’m just going to recap the costumes in all their poly-baroque-satin, princess-seamed glory. Stay tuned for future episodes on forthcoming Thursdays!
Check out my recap of episode one! The good news is we have some actual photo stills for this second episode, so we can actually get a better sense of the costumes … and it’s too bad about the crap video quality, because some of them look good!
Marie-Antoinette is now all growed up and being played by Geneviève Casile. She’s hanging out looking at maps:
Marie-Antoinette and Lamballe talk fashion with famous marchande de modes Rose Bertin:
The jeweler tries to sell MA the famous diamond necklace; she says no. MA is in a quite-nice-in-behind-the-scenes-shots pink shot taffeta and gold court gown:
At a reception, the future Duchesse de Polignac catches MA’s eye with her vivacity and heavy eye makeup:
There’s a LOT of MA scampering about the Hameau in the same repetitive white and blue robe à la polonaise.
MA and Polignac chat with the king:
MA is spending all her time at the Hameau and Trianon. She breezes through some court function in blue and pink:
She’s spending time with Fersen, who announces he’s off to America to fight. She has a sad.
MA’s mother (Empress Maria Theresa) dies:
Jeanne de la Motte (the diamond necklace schemer) schemes while playing cards at the Hameau.
Fersen is back! MA is happy!
There’s LOTS more hanging out at the Hameau:
There’s a whole subplot about the opera Figaro, including MA rehearsing? performing? a version:
The whole diamond necklace affair comes to light. MA is pissed; she and the king confront the cardinal.
MA has a sad; I think because she’s getting flack for the diamond necklace thing.
Yet More Hameau, Yet More Same Dress:
Yet More Pink Court Gown:
There’s a closeup of an awful version of the Vigée Le Brun portrait:
MA gets booed at the opera:
Hangs out at the Hameau:
Something dramatic happens:
There’s been a whole subplot with some rando guys at a tavern; I refuse to screencap it until this chick shows up in a good hat:
Watch for episode 3 next Thursday!
It’s interesting to see the still photographs next to the screen captures, and the difference in the colours that show up in each.
I work in printing, and one thing you learn about colour is that the same inks can appear completely different on different paper grades. Old comic books look completely different than the trade paperback reprints for example. Getting something which approaches “true” colour is a difficult art to learn.
Colours on screen have the same problem. Different TV screens can be keyed to different colour values, and an old style CRT screen often produced very different colours than a more modern TV. Then there is the question of how the videotape recorded the colour relative to the still camera. And the question of how the videotape image might have decayed over time since the original recording. Look how that blue and white dress turned turquoise in the screencap, for example. I wouldn’t be surprised if the colour in the original broadcast looked closer to the still image, but at this point it is impossible to say.
Something to think about, I guess, when watching some of these old shows from the 70s and 80s. Some of the garish colours we point and laugh at may not even be there in the originals. I’m hankering to re-watch all of the BBC Jane Austen series right now. The 1970s Emma has a lot of these same problems, as I recall.
Still plenty to snark at though. Back lacing isn’t any more correct here even if the dresses are prettier than the videotape makes them look. And they almost never get the makeup right in these shows. It’s the one thing that makes it easy to date a production.
Still waiting for a Rose Bertin movie! Not holding my breath. :)
The costumes really have that shiny 70s crappy vibe… but as a French, I really enjoyed the dialogues and the tone, which seemed authentic and in line with what one would expect at the court. More specifically, this episode have all forms of address correct when speaking to royalty in French, which is usually wrong in films. More recent series about Versailles or historical royalty may be more accurate re the costumes but I f think they completely lack credibility in terms of dialogues and manners and read very modern / caricatural (especially when depicting courtiers).