Marie Antoinette - Execution of a Queen Consort

Nine months after her husband (King Louis XVI) was executed, Marie Antoinette followed him to the guillotine.  She was publicly beheaded - on the 16th of October, 1793 - following a trial in which false evidence was presented against her.

According to the historian, Charles Lacretelle (a Frenchman who lived between1766-1855):

Marie Antoinette wore a white gown, a white handkerchief covered her shoulders, a white cap her hair; a black ribbon bound this cap round her temples ... The cries, the looks, the laughter, the jests of the people overwhelmed her with humiliation; her colour, changing continually from purple to paleness, betrayed her agitation ... On reaching the scaffold  she inadvertently trod on the executioner’s foot. “Pardon me,” she said, courteously. She knelt for an instant and uttered a half- audible prayer; then rising and glancing towards the towers of the Temple, "Adieu, once again, my children," she said;  "I go to rejoin your father."

This clip, reenacting the queen's final moments, is from "The Affair of the Necklace" in which Marie Antoinette is portrayed by Joely Richardson.

Credits

Clip from The Affair of the Necklace (2001)

Director
Charles Shyer

Producers
Charles Shyer
Andrew Kosove
Broderick Johnson
Redmond Morris

Screenplay   
John Sweet

Narrator   
Brian Cox

Starring    
Hilary Swank
Jonathan Pryce
Simon Baker
Adrien Brody
Joely Richardson
Christopher Walken

Music by    
David Newman

Cinematography    
Ashley Rowe

Studio    
Alcon Entertainment

Distributor   
Warner Bros.

Released:
November 30, 2001 (USA)
January 11, 2002 (UK)

Running time    
118 minute