Just when you thought you had a moment, it’s all starting up again. A fresh movie year is ahead of us with major festivals at Sundance, SXSW and Cannes set to get the ball rolling in the first half of the year, and next month Berlin lays out their annual red carpet. This morning, organizers have announced that Benoit Jacquot‘s “Farewell, My Queen” will open the festival on February 9th.
The picture is one we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while now. An adaptation of Chantal Thomas’ novel, the film sees Diane Kruger taking on the role Marie Antoinette with the beauitful Lea Seydoux (recently spied in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol“) as Sidonie Laborde, a reader to her royal majesty, in the story that is set during the final days of the French Revolution. The cast is rounded out by Virginie Ledoyen who stars as Marie’s BFF, the Duchesse de Polignac. Last summer, some behind the scenes video gave us a first glimpse of the cast, but Belgian distributor Lumiere have the first official stills. And as you might expect, this looks promisingly sumptuous.
“Farewell, My Queen” will open in Belgium on March 21st, with the Netherlands following on April 19th, so we’d wager a trailer of sorts will arrive soon. But until then, these stills will have to suffice. The Berlin Festival runs from February 9-19.
