previously published on Cineuropa
We know how it all ended for France’s last royal couple, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It was part of our history lessons, we’ve read it in books, and we’ve seen it in movies. Jean Renoir’s The Marseillaise (1938) and Robert Enrico and Richard T Heffron’s epic The French Revolution (1989) tried to capture a holistic historical perspective, while Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) and Benoît Jacquot’s Farewell, My Queen (2012) aimed for a more intimate tone. The question is, however, whether there might be anything new and fresh to be said about the topic.
Italian filmmaker Gianluca Jodice, who has a thing for historical figures and situations, has tried to provide an answer to this question. His newest work, The Flood, has world-premiered as the opening film of the 77th Locarno Film Festival.
The year is 1792, the pinnacle of the French Revolution, and Louis XVI (Guillaume Canet) is dethroned and, along with his family, imprisoned in The Temple Tower to await trial. While the king tries to keep spirits high and old manners intact, in accordance with his seemingly jovial and mild-mannered personality, the perceptive and intelligent queen Marie Antoinette (Mélanie Laurent) is far less enthusiastic about their predicament. Their children, Marie-Thérèse and Louis-Charles, are still too young to realise the gravity of the situation, and their religious upbringing provided by the king’s sister Elisabeth (Aurore Brutin) also helps, at least to an extent. Some of their captors try to remain civil, while others, like the captain (Hugo Dillon), err more on the vengeful side.
The royal family is slowly deprived of everything they are used to from their former, lavish life. First, they are left with only one servant, the loyal Cléry (Fabrizio Rongione), according to whose diary the film was supposedly made; then their possessions, down to their books, pens and pencils, are taken; and finally, they are separated from one another. Nevertheless, at their closely observed meetings, the royal couple discusses the situation, each side from their own standpoint, trying to debate their relationship and the destiny that awaits them…
Jodice opens the film on a high note, with beautifully and symmetrically composed wide and long shots taken by cinematographer Daniele Cipri, which capture Tonino Zera’s marvellous production design and the sonic background consisting of Fabio Massimo Capogrosso’s neoclassical (albeit edging more on the modern side) musical score and the striking, prominent sound design. However, by the end of the first act, the whole thing runs out of steam, since the filmmaker drops the stylistic rigour in favour of a looser approach. The same could also be said for the script written by Jodice and Filippo Gravino, especially when it comes to the seemingly philosophical, but profoundly fake-sounding, dialogues it is riddled with.
Logically, the actors are the ones who have to pay for most of the script’s “crimes”, and it is a pity to see thesps as strong as Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet struggling with the dialogue they are provided with and having to resort to hysterical over-acting, masked as improvisation. There might be a meta-moment in the lines when they admit they were playing certain roles and that they have to adapt to the new ones, but the question remains as to whether this was intentional or not.
Jodice tries to get back on track with an ending whose symbolism involving torrential rain is certainly strong and on point (after all, the title of the film is derived from the expression “After me, the flood”, attributed to Louis XV), but the ball has already been dropped. The filmmaker’s effort to humanise these protagonists that we were taught to hate is admirable, but The Flood might not be the best way to do it.