Queen Marie of Romania

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 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.

No disrespect to the honorable intentions of its creators, but this film is far from being a satisfying experience. Whether you are an aficionado for historical films or just a regular cinephile, you can't help but feeling a little irked by the film's mediocrity. No matter how impressive some palaces or costumes may look, they hardly make up for pompous acting, cliched dialogue and tiresome scenes. On television it could have made a fairly acceptable soap opera. The big screen, however, is a totally different story.

What's more disappointing is that major historical figures of Romania, such as Bratianu, Averescu, King Ferdinand, Prince Carol (future King Carol II) and others are depicted as poor caricatures of themselves. The same goes for personalities like Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and Clemenceau. While it's common knowledge that cinema is definitely not a history class, we simply can't overlook the fact that the way in which the film adapts historical facts and characters to its narrative is an injustice to a whole era, both historically and artistically.

There is no depth, no other dimension to any of the protagonists. Apart from the leading lady, presented in a rather messianic light, the film overflows us with dozens of supporting characters and the minute we start taking a slight interest in them, it flatly abandons them.

Roxana Lupu seems to be more excited about getting to play the role of the queen than about the role itself. She tries her best to look convincing, but, being so heavy-handedly directed, she does very little in making us truly empathize with her character. A case in hand in this respect is the pompous manner in which her character (the queen) repeats throughout the film how much she loves Romania and how proud she feels to lobby for her country's interests. In my humble opinion, if you are making films and you want to convey certain feelings and messages to your audience, this ought to be reflected in your cinematic approach as a whole, not in just a few lines of dialogue (which in this film is infuriatingly repetitive). Cinema is, after all, a very powerful medium and, if one posesses the skill, one may be able to convey a thousand messages in just one frame without anyone having to speak a single word. However, making your actors repeat the same things for two hours and in a such overblown manner, is dull, uninspired and a little insulting to the viewer's intelligence (not to mention that it adds to the characters' artificiality).

All in all, the film leaves a great deal to be desired and that is really a pity, because an important figure such as Queen Maria and a major geopolitical event like the creation of Greater Romania deserve much better than cheap romanticism. I am amazed that, having such a great material in their hands, the creators of the film could offer nothing more than a series of heavily used clichés. They may be the safe option and guarantee tickets, but, at the end of the day, all they leave behind is an audience addicted to low-quality filmmaking and, on a second level, a number of misconceptions regarding Romania's modern past.

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.

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.