I expected a slow movie, with not much action going on. I mean, it's about a guy dying, so that's says it all.
But my goodness, I didn't expect such a lack of activitiy. Everybody seemed to move in slow motion. Everybody seemed to TALK in slow motion. It got to the point where I seriously checked if this movie is a satire. Because in no way this reflects actual events in those times.
One of the most disturbing (or hilarious) scenes was the one were Louis wakes up at night, feverish and sweaty, and asks for some water. First, he has to ask several times because there is no servant in the room with him. Finally, a door opens and a very sleepy person stumbles in, has to be asked several times again before he - after a ridiculous amount of time - enters again with a glass of water. Now, the water is served in the wrong kind of glass and Louis refused to drink it.
Okay, I get that this scene was about how etiquette was more important than dying of thirst in those days. Maybe it was, I don't know. But the whole set up lacks every understanding of the importance of Louis XIV, and how the court worked. It was an absolute honor to work and live in Versailles and only the best of the best (the creme de la creme) of servants would make it to being a personal servant of him. And they would run, fly, to fulfill his every wish. It would be like serving Queen Elizabeth, only multiplied by a 1000 times. It's completely unthinkable that there was no servant present and some stupid incompetent person was the only one to attent to Louis, in slow motion.
There were much more mistakes like this in the movie. So I decided to view it as a satire. It's actually not so bad as a satire. Oh, and some parts I doubled the speed. That helped a lot too.
But my goodness, I didn't expect such a lack of activitiy. Everybody seemed to move in slow motion. Everybody seemed to TALK in slow motion. It got to the point where I seriously checked if this movie is a satire. Because in no way this reflects actual events in those times.
One of the most disturbing (or hilarious) scenes was the one were Louis wakes up at night, feverish and sweaty, and asks for some water. First, he has to ask several times because there is no servant in the room with him. Finally, a door opens and a very sleepy person stumbles in, has to be asked several times again before he - after a ridiculous amount of time - enters again with a glass of water. Now, the water is served in the wrong kind of glass and Louis refused to drink it.
Okay, I get that this scene was about how etiquette was more important than dying of thirst in those days. Maybe it was, I don't know. But the whole set up lacks every understanding of the importance of Louis XIV, and how the court worked. It was an absolute honor to work and live in Versailles and only the best of the best (the creme de la creme) of servants would make it to being a personal servant of him. And they would run, fly, to fulfill his every wish. It would be like serving Queen Elizabeth, only multiplied by a 1000 times. It's completely unthinkable that there was no servant present and some stupid incompetent person was the only one to attent to Louis, in slow motion.
There were much more mistakes like this in the movie. So I decided to view it as a satire. It's actually not so bad as a satire. Oh, and some parts I doubled the speed. That helped a lot too.