Movies filmed at Versailles
by Dabs
To get into the mood for Versailles and for a little background information, you might rent one or more of the following movies:
The best one I've seen is Ridicule, a story of a French nobleman who went to Versailles to beg King Louis' favor to assist in ridding his town of mosquitoes and ended up getting sucked into the life of a courtier. Lots of witty dialogue, subtitled in French.
Tale of Two Cities with Chris Sarandon playing the dual role of the hero and redeemed anti hero, this is made for Masterpiece Theater quality (ie it wouldn't have made money at the box office) but it's a great story by Charles Dickens and set during the French Revolution.
Marie Antoinette was a critic's darling, I thought it was an OK movie just couldn't bear watching Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI, I firmly believe he would never have cracked into show biz if not for the Coppola connection. Anyways, it's almost entirely set at Versailles and was actually filmed there so it's worth a watch just for that.
I would not recommend Affair of the Necklace even though it is set in the time of Marie Antoinette, Hillary Swank was utterly ridiculous in the lead role and after I watched the movie I looked up the real history of her character and it was far more interesting than the Hollywoodization that takes place, the movie tries to make her out to be a heroine when it fact she was nothing of the sort.
Make enough time!
by wanderingbtrfly
I loved Versailles, inside and out. It was a beautiful place and I wish I could've spent many more hours there. Make sure you schedule enough time for Versailles! The palace itself is huge, but the gardens are massive! There is so much to see here; if you want to really experience what Versailles has to offer, my advice would be to give yourself a good hour or two for the palace and atleast two hours for the gardens, but you may end up wanting more! (For instance, Mary Antoinette's charming hamlet is a 45 minute tram ride out into the gardens. Goodness knows how long it would take to walk out that far!) We missed a lot of the things that we had wanted to see due to lack of time. Don't let that happen to you!
Come Prepared
by eho
I didn't prepare for this trip, so I had travelled all the way across the Atlantic ocean only to find long line-ups everywhere. I started to get impatient and was like an ant on a hot wok. I didn't know which of the buildings is worth the wait, so I started wandering around aimlessly.
Garden (1)
by eho
After spending an hour not getting anywhere I decided to head for the gardens. It was a cloudy day and there were occasional downpours. But luckily there were breaks in between and it was actually bright and sunny in the afternoon.
Garden (3)
by eho
Even though the garden area is so big, I still find it relatively crowded. I set up a tripod to take a self portrait, and I waited and waited until it was clear to take a shot, and still someone walked right into the path as the shutter released :-(.
I walked all the way down to the canal and strolled around the shores where families were having picnics. Since it was raining intermittently, and I found the garden too artificial to my liking, I turned to go back to the palace.
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Grand Trianon
The palace
Versailles treasures
Tour Group Photo
