French Revolutionary drama opens Berlin Film Festival

By Andrew McCathie Feb 9, 2012, 6:01 GMT

Berlin - A period drama set against the backdrop of the French Revolution opened the 62nd Berlin Film Festival on Thursday.

The screening of Les Adieux a la Reine (Farewell my Queen), by French director Benoit Jacquot, launched the Berlinale's competition. The 10-day event also includes films from global motion powerhouses such as China and the United States, as well as from burgeoning movie regions like Southeast Asia.

At the centre of Jacquot's film is the relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her ladies-in-waiting, which deteriorates as the Queen plots her escape while revolutionaries advance on her palace.

Speaking at a press conference marking the film's screening in Berlin, Jacquot said he was sure that Marie Antoinette would have been thrilled to know a film about her life had opened the Berlinale.

'If she had known it would have helped to lift the Queen's spirits during those troubled times,' he said.

A raft of top stars are also expected in Berlin for the festival, among them Twilight leading man Robert Pattinson, Angelina Jolie, and the hottest new star of the moment, Michael Fassbender.

Headed by British film director Mike Leigh, the festival's eight-member jury will have to choose from a total of 18 films - all world premieres - when awarding Berlin's top prize, the coveted Golden Bear.

Speaking at a press conference at the start of the festival, Leigh paid tribute to the Berlinale as 'a great celebration of film.'

He said the festival had not lost any of the intensity it had built up during the Cold War years.

The jury also includes French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg and Hollywood's Jake Gyllenhaal, who shot to international fame following his role as Jack Twist in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain.

A total of 400 films are to be screened across the main sections of what is the world's biggest film festival in terms of audience.

The Berlinale also sees itself as possibly the most political of the world's leading festivals in that it does not shy away from screening movies that confront tough social issues or major world events.

With this in mind, Leigh also told the press conference that he believed Hollywood's domination of the international cinema business was starting to wane.

Up until now the world's top film festivals - Cannes, Venice and Berlin - have been 'Hollywood proof,' Leigh said.

'One is optimistic that the inevitable domination of Hollywood is starting to erode,' he said, adding that a stronger independent film movement is also emerging in the US.