Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Marie Antoinette’ On PBS, Where The Future Queen Of France Finds Her Royal Footing

Marie Antoinette is one of those historical figures whose lives aren’t as well known as people think. We know that she was the last Queen of France, having been dethroned and then executed during the French Revolution. We know she seemed to have disdain for the starving masses (though she likely never said “let them eat cake.”) And we also know that she was a fashion icon who revolutionized the royal court at Versailles. But what do we know of her early years, especially the early years of her marriage? A new PBS series gives us a fictionalized view of that time period.

MARIE ANTOINETTE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A shot of a floor in a royal bedroom, with pastel-colored candy-coated almonds scattered on the floor. A teenage girl lies in bed and remembers people throwing those almonds at her and laughing.

The Gist: Marie Antoinette (Emilia Schüle) is being trained in royal protocol and etiquette in order to represent the Hapsburg empire of Austria as the future Queen of France. She’s being sent to the neighboring country to marry Louis (Louis Cunningham), the dauphin who is next in line to the throne after his father, Louis XV (James Purefoy). She’s definitely a bit unpolished, but she’s ready enough to be sent over the border, to preserve the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

As she’s transported to the border, she thinks about what she represents to her people, but also plays with her pug Mops. She remembers her mother, Empress Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche (Marthe Keller), telling her that the goal is to produce an heir, and to let her future husband guide her in bed.

When she gets across the bridge into France, she’s greeted by the stern Madame de Noailles (Laura Benson), who will be Antoinette’s mistress of the house. Madame de Noailles immediately orders Mops to be taken back to Austria. When Antoinette starts to cry, she is told that “a French princess does not display her feelings or cry in public.”

At the country estate, she meets Louis the XV, and is enchanted by the king’s son Provence (Jack Archer), but the future Louis XVI is definitely not charming. He’s dirty and carrying a rabbit he’s just killed, he doesn’t smell great, and he doesn’t particularly like to talk to people. Louis XV’s daughters, Adelaide (Crystal Shepherd-Cross) and Victoire (Caroline Piette) are darkly skeptical of Antoinette, and they have the table manners of feral cats. She also meets Lamballe (Jasmine Blackborow), a princess who came to France from Italy and married into the royal family. Because of those circumstances, the two become fast friends. She also meets Madame du Barry (Gaia Weiss), who is said to be there to “entertain” the king. “I can be very entertaining!” says Antoinette, to which everyone laughs knowingly.

She isn’t set to go to Versailles just yet; she has to be there as prince Louis’ wife, so she spends the night at the estate, wondering if she’ll ever be attracted enough to Louis to make the heir she’s supposed to make.

Things go from bad to worse as she goes to Versailles to marry Louis. She feels the pressure her mother says is on her “slim shoulders”, and prince Louis is so nervous he drops the wedding ring during the ceremony. Their first night in the marital bed is a spectacle — complete with the aforementioned almonds being tossed at them — and Louis wants no part of consummating his new marriage.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The first episode of Marie Antoinette reminded us a lot of the first episode of Becoming Elizabeth, right down to the scene where the prince and princess’ first night in their marital bed is witnessed by family members. And who could forget Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, the 2006 movie that cast Kirsten Dunst as the iconic queen?

Our Take: Created by Deborah Davis, Marie Antoinette is supposed to show the last Queen of France in her early years at Versailles, where she has doubts about her marriage to Louis even as she ascends to the throne with him. What the series is supposed to show is Antoinette’s growth into a style icon and someone who tries to transform protocols at Versailles, even as revolution is being fomented in Paris and elsewhere.

Davis is off to a good start in the first episode, albeit a slow one. Schüle plays young Antoinette as innocent but not naïve, and someone who acutely feels the pressure of not just her family but of all of Austria; because her job is to create an heir that will unite both countries, she definitely needs to figure out a way to seduce the reluctant Louis. When Countess du Barry offers her expertise in the art of seduction on the wedding night, we see Antoinette’s desperation to learn something, and immediately.

There certainly is an effort on Davis’ and her writing team’s part to make Antoinette’s story sexy, which is why we see scenes where du Barry and Louis XV are in seduction mode, including one where they slap each other at du Barry’s suggestion that prince Louis might not even be able to find his privates. The idea is that du Barry’s boldness is going to help Antoinette blossom as well as thaw things between her and young Louis.

Of course, Antoinette was never completely accepted by the royal court at Versailles, and it’ll be interesting to see her negotiate the gilded viper pit she’s found herself in and succeed as queen.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode. Even when Antoinette and Louis are undressed so they can enter their marital bed, all the naughty bits are covered.

Parting Shot: As Antoinette hides under her covers, realizing how many eyes are literally and figuratively on her, she wonders, “What have you done to me, mama?”

Sleeper Star: Jame Purefoy plays Louis XV as a guy who knows what his pleasures are, and someone who tries to make Antoinette feel at home in his family, despite all the strangeness going on within it.

Most Pilot-y Line: On the ride to Versailles, du Barry tells Provence, “Let’s keep her in our sights,” referring to Antoinette. He points a finger pistol outwards, and says, “I like target practice.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Marie Antoinette starts slowly but should pick up as Antoinette tries to seduce the reluctant Louie and both become monarchs.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.