QUEEN of France viewers were quick to point out a major flaw with the BBC’s new Marie Antoinette drama last night.
The period series takes artistic licence with the story of the decadent, much-maligned 18th century monarch.
Emilia Schule plays Marie Antoinette in Queen of France
Last night viewers felt uncomfortable watching the teen monarch try and consummate her marriage
German actress Emilia Schüle, 30, played Marie aged 14 in the first episode, but viewers found it hard to believe the portrayal.
One complained on Twitter: “4? Twice that age if anything.”
Another said: “This #MarieAntoinette show is interesting, but Marie Antoinette is meant to be 14 when she marries the Dauphin and she looks (and is) 30, which sort of messes with the vibes.
“I get that they don’t want to change actresses mid-story but surely they could’ve done more?”
Other viewers who tuned in to watch the eight-part series’ debut were horrified by how teen Marie was treated and threatened to switch off.
They saw her sent from Austria to marry the dauphin Louis-Auguste – and forced to strip naked in front of the court who had gathered to watch them undress and get into bed together.
But the awkward teenager said he felt “nothing” for her and turned his back on his new wife.
Marie was then shamed for not consummating the marriage.
Marie Antoinette is made by BBC and France’s Canal+ which made Versailles.
It was written by Deborah Davis, who was nominated for an Oscar for writing The Favourite, in which starred Olivia Colman.
The real Marie was said to have lit the fuse of the French Revolution with the line “Let them eat cake!” when told that starving peasants could not afford bread.
But far from being portrayed as the enemy of the people, the new series, which begins this week, shows her as an oppressed feminist stuck in a stuffy palace and in a loveless marriage to King Louis XVI.
While this telling of her story may un-cancel the queen, not everybody is happy about it — particularly the French.
One critic for newspaper Le Figaro fumed: “Perhaps Anglo-Saxon film-makers should be forbidden access to Versailles.”
German actress Emilia said of her character: “The preconception is that she was only this fashion icon and spender, but she was much more complex, more modern. She was a real rebel.
“She didn’t accept that her only role would be giving birth.
“She was looking for a role in life as a queen, as a mother, as a wife, as a human being.”
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https://thecelebreport.com/television/nick-cannon-welcomes-his-12th-child-as-baby-mama-alyssa-scott-reveals-newborns-gender-and-unique-name
