Mémoires de Marie-Antoinette : Tome 1, Versailles

Mémoires de Marie-Antoinette #1

by Noël Simsolo (Contributor)

Paris, le 13 août 1792. La monarchie est abolie. Marie-Antoinette, épouse de Louis XVI, est internée à la Tour du Temple. Installée dans une cellule en attente de son procès, elle écrit ses mémoires... Du départ de son Autriche natale à ses noces avec le dauphin de France, en passant par le quotidien parfois impitoyable de la cour du roi et sa rencontre avec Axel de Fersen qui deviendra son amant et ami, celle qui passa des ors du Trianon à la puanteur des cachots s'y livre entièrement et sincèrement.En choisissant de raconter la vie de Marie-Antoinette comme si elle écrivait ses propres mémoires, Noël Simsolo trouve le ton juste pour brosser un portrait à la fois complet et touchant de la plus célèbre reine de France, auquel le trait léger et délicat d'Isa Python vient apporter un supplément d'élégance.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, France

128 pages, Hardcover

Published May 24, 2017

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars; I rounded down because the art was sometimes inconsistent--the detail of the lavish settings was lovely, but the artist couldn't decide from panel to panel whether Marie-Antoinette's cheekbones would be prominent or not, and sometimes ended up with strangely lumpish results. It did give a small glimpse into the doomed queen's beginnings from an intimate, human perspective, but somehow not quite close enough to make me really feel for her. For example, I didn't get an impression of WHY she disliked the old king's mistress, just that she did (even though it became a big deal), which made it feel like just a shallow adolescent caprice instead of the more nuanced situation of moral/culture-clash and power-play it was; and though they went into how long it took her husband to consummate the marriage and the rumors that she must be sleeping around, it didn't at all address the way many blamed her for the delay, which was a big deal to her and might have made readers feel more sympathetic to her; similarly, other major events (like the death of a child) were passed over so fast that you could easily miss them.
The shortcomings made this more of a pretty distraction than a strong book, but it was still nice as eye-candy, so I could recommend it to anyone looking to just immerse themselves in the world of royal excess. I wouldn't mind looking up the next volume, but I don't expect too much from it beyond light entertainment.