Queen Marie of Romania

While as a film it may not "check all the boxes" it is a beautifully made film with excellent performances. But most importantly it gives us a look at an incredibly important time in the history of the world. The Treaty of Versailles turned out to be one of the most controversial documents ever signed, by the "winners" of the First World War, some even arguing it was the root cause I'm bringing about the Second WW. Romania's fight for their country's unification was just one part of what the post-war world would look like. The rest is history.

I can't comment on the historical accuracy so this review is just about the film as a period drama. I found it a bit slow for my tastes. The characters were dull and boring. Any actionable drama seemed forced and somewhat out of character for the characters. I'm guessing the writers and producers wanted it that way and maybe it is historically accurate but the pacing and dialog practically put me to sleep. Sorry this was only watchable, a 6 for me.

The movie fails to capture the real importance of the characters and of the story. The plot is poorly put into the first World War context and is very superficially explained. The edit is cheap and filled with amatoristic takes. A waisted chance of making a meaningful movie.

The opening in Timisoara/Romania, drew a big crowd as a sign of great interest for this piece of art. Really nice locations were recollecting the atmosphere of 1900's beginning, the costumes were perfect, the use of alternate English/Romanian subtitles gave a complete experience to us, and the sound was very clear and musical. This movie came out at the right moment because Queen Marie remainings were brought back to Romanian soil recently.

A great movie about a subject I knew nothing about, beautifully made with good cast, great costumes and sets. I would have liked to have delved deeper into the Greater Romania thing. I know that present days Romania has chunks of what Hungary calls its own and Moldova the same. It didn't show how the monarchy's of Central Europe after WWI where doomed by their own weakness. In the movie its mentioned that the Royal Family of Romania are German Princess given the job because had nothing to do after the unification of Germany in 1871. But back to the movie, really the only ones who seem to be able to tell these stories in modern cinema are the European co-productions. They have a feel and of course the wonderful locations are no harm. the lovely scene near the end between Ferdinand and Marie at the castle was just gorgeous and ended the movies in a lovely way.