Queen Marie of Romania

Looking for love it - that was, in my case, the desire of me. And for love it - many reasons, from the admirable performance of Ruxandra Lupu, giving the fair and the nuanced , full merited portrait of the Queen to the imppecable costumes, use of English and Romanian and atmosphere. The only , basic , in fact problem, remains the dialogue. It reminds the wood language, the melodramatic speeches from the Romanian cinematography before 1990 and few films by Sergiu Nicolaescu after. Maybe it is not a real sin, maybe is trait of specific but , behind the story, very useful to be known , something remains not exactly finished. But, no doubts, a beautiful film and necessary for some reasons.

Greetings again from the darkness. There are likely those who know less about the history of Romania than I, but that list is pretty short. Co-writers and co-directors Alexis Sweet Cahill of Italy and Brigitte Drodtloff of Germany, along with three other listed co-writers: Gabi Antal, Ioana Manea, and Maria-Denise Teodoru, bring us the more than 100 year-old story of Queen Marie, and it's "based on True Events" (including the Queen's own writings).

Roxana Lupu, originally from Romania, plays Queen Marie, a Monarch who likely doesn't receive the historical credit she deserves. Her husband, King Ferdinand I is played by Daniel Plier, who really isn't given much to do here ... hence the film's title. A spectacular opening shot takes us over a frozen river and drops us into Bucharest in 1919. World War I has recently ended, and no one seems to care much about the state of Romania, except Romanians. Having sided with the Triple Entente (Russia, France, and Great Britain), hopes are now fading for a united Romania.

Against the preferences of Romanian Parliament, her husband, and just about everyone else, Marie headed to the Peace Talks being held in Paris ... yes, the talks that led to the Treaty of Versailles. Though most tried to encourage her to let the politicians handle the politics, Marie reminded them that she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and thus is not silenced easily. She forced and maneuvered her way in to meetings with powerful world leaders of the time to negotiate for international recognition (and assistance) of a united Romania.

Above all else, this is the story of strong woman fighting for her country. She goes toe-to-toe with Prime Minister Ion Bratianu (Adrian Titieni), French Prime Minister Clemenceau (Ronald Chenery), and U. S. President Woodrow Wilson (Patrick Drury) in her efforts to be heard. She even battles her own son Prince Carol II (Anghel Damian), who would later become King. Ms. Lupu is excellent in the role, and she has previously played Queen Elizabeth (twice), as well as a Princess and a Grand Duchess, so clearly has the screen presence to pull off such royal and regal roles. The film only teases her attraction to Prince Stirbey (Emil Mandanac), and the personal history between her and her cousin, King George V (Nicholas Boulton).

It's a period drama with the requisite costumes, hair styles, and set design necessary to whisk us away to a century ago, and mostly we learn there was more to this popular Queen than her commitment to feeding citizens during a difficult time. The closing credits give us archival footage as well as the political developments that occurred. The time period covered is limited, but one that was crucial for a country and her Queen.

Available On Demand and on Digital May 7, 2021.

This movie is something that Romania didn't knew it needed but it did. Great costumes and choice of actors. As a romanian maybe I would have enjoyed a little bit more detail in their everyday life, the action goes quite fast . I believe it managed to capture well the spirit of our most beloved queen. Going to see this in cinema really gave me , and the rest of the viewers, a feeling of patriotism and pride. Queen Maria of Romania is our most beloved monarchy figure and this movie is an amazing addition to our culture.

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.

I just love how she speaks perfect english and perfect romanian in the same time, and knows how to perfectly pronounce every name respective to their proper way, in both languages. You can hardly ever hear a person who speaks perfect english, that also can speak perfectly in any other language not just in this day and age, but ever.

Aside from that, which for me was the point of attraction nr. 1 to this quite cool version of The Queen Marie of Romania, in the 2nd part of the movie the delicious confrontations which were in quick succession with Great Britain's prime minister who was just stalling and America's President who honestly seemed he couldn't care less were a stunt that this movie pulled off. Those 2 scenes where she had enough with loitering and bickering and went straight to the point like an arrow, rearranging Great Britain and America's highest official's thought patterns a little more scrupulously towards Romania, were a delight. "Leave politics to the politicians!" is like saying "Leave justice in the hands of police!", and whatnot other miss concepts! No, one should do whatever he can to improve the livelihood of the people he cares about, and that's everyone's job.

The acting is not always to notch but The Queen delivers and through her presence, the rest of the cast seemed a level better than they actually were. Not brilliant, nor dull, an 8 out of 10 well deserved for this movie.