Episode 26: Rose of Versailles and Marie Antoinette

Travel with us to the last days of the Palace of Versailles as we discuss two works about the (first) end of the French monarchy: the classic 1970s anime The Rose of Versailles and the 2006 film Marie Antoinette. In the anime we follow a young swordswoman brought up as a man as she first serves the young princess Marie Antoinette and then eventually turns against the royal family, while in the film we follow that same Marie Antoinette as she marries into the French royal family and lives in guilded splendor before everything comes to a shocking end with the arrival of the French Revolution.

Opulence and revolution, war and femininity, love and betrayal – this episode has it all! Comes with bonus communism content.

Things from the episode that you may want to look up but don’t know how to spell: Dauphine, Julie d’Aubigny (a.k.a. La Maupin), silphium, abortifacients