 |
| Sway DiFeo as Marie Antoinette with your author |
The Napoleonic Wars are a series of empire conflicts under Napoleon Bonaparte broken into coalitions. In 1809, Napoleon’s Empire and Bavaria are fighting against the Austrian and United Kingdom alliance in the War of the Fifth Coalition. Pauline is heartbroken and does not expect her fiancé, Captain Neuville, to come back from the battlefield. Despite his promise to write every day, Neuville does not even send one letter. Naïve ideas and a sheltered life make Pauline sick with worry so Elizabeth, her sister, decides to write her love letters from the front instead. If that does not create funny scenes on its own, the unexpected return of Neuville creates a Boeing Boeing effect for Elizabeth and Neuville, producing hilarious situations where the two schemers concoct a variety of cover-ups.
Le Retour du Heros (Return of the Heros), a French comedy film, directed by Laurent Tirard was the 7 o’clock movie presented Friday night at the Lewis Auditorium in Saint Augustine and the official opening night film of the annual Film Festival. This festival is organized by Gregory von Hausch, CEO of the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and sponsored by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners and The Saint Johns County Tourist Development Council. The films, from various countries and cultures, are presented over four days in three locations downtown Saint Augustine, starting on Thursday, January 17 and running till Sunday, January 20. I was late for the start of this film and when I walked up to the Lewis Auditorium, I casually bumped into Marie Antoinette, with her head attached, and her lady-in-waiting, also quite alive. I decided to skip the movie and just hang with royalty.
Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France and married to King Louis XVI. She was accused of high treason after the monarchy was abolished during the War of the First Coalition. She lost her head by guillotine in 1793 at the onset of the French Revolution, when Napoleon was still only twenty-four and a pocket-rebel. He became emperor of the French in 1804, during the War of the Third Coalition. Technically speaking, my royal friend and cohort were slightly outside the time-loop, but that did not spoil the fun! Let them have bread, right?! … that’s right, it wasn’t cake. Although her court was a decadent affair with extravagant expenses and displays, Marie Antoinette is famous for donating generously to charitable causes and showing compassion for the less affluent. The callous remark was uttered decades before by somebody else and corrupted in meaning and intention like in a Chinese whisper game, where the outcome is almost always different than the original word. It just conveys how hateful the French people felt toward the immoral and self-indulgent French monarchy.
Nevertheless, my Marie Antoinette, embodied by Sway Difeo, organizer, costume-maker, and artist-extraordinaire of the annual Great Gatsby Charity Event in Saint Augustine, was a great success greeting all the visitors right before the start of Le Retour du Heros. This particular dress was not made by Sway, though. Zoom camera to the quiet cohort lady-in-waiting, portrayed by Juliana Koutouzakis, top stylist and creative director of Panache Salon in Saint Augustine and costume creator and participant of many fashion shows. Juliana made the dress from plastic Walmart bags and trash bags. She crocheted the bodice, wove strips of plastic boxes through the gaps, and stitched and glued the whole skirt over a petticoat. Needless to say that she also designed and created the almost two-foot high wig. The three of us ended up in Casa Monica, where we had a glass of vino while having fun chatting and talking to the many admirers approaching the Queen and her lady-in-waiting. My friends are royalty indeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment