The Royal Exchange is the English title of a Belgian-French historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered in 2017.
It is about France and Spain in the first half of the 18th century; more precisely the years 1721-1725.
In order to ensure a friendly and peaceful relationship between France and Spain, the leaders of the two countries agree on a plan which involves an exchange of two princesses and two forced marriages.
Here are the details:
# 1. A Spanish princess will go to France and after a while marry the king of France.
# 2. A French princess will go to Spain and marry the crown prince (the future king) of Spain.
The plan is set in motion in 1721. But only two years later, in 1723, it is clear that things are not going well. And in 1725, it is obvious that the plan has failed.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** French title: L’échange des princesses
** Writer and director: Marc Dugain
** The screenplay is based on a historical novel by Chantal Thomas (2013) (an English translation was published in 2015)
** Language: French
** Run time: 100 minutes
The cast includes the following:
On the French side
** Olivier Gourmet as Philippe II d’Orleans aka the Duke of Orleans (1674-1723) – regent of France from 1715 until his death in 1723
** Anamaria Vartolomei as Louise Elisabeth d’Orleans aka Mademoiselle de Montpensier (1709-1742) – daughter of Philippe II d’Orleans – married to Luis Felipe, crown prince of Spain 1722-1724 – Queen of Spain for seven months in 1724
** Igor Van Vessel as Louis XV (1710-1774) – king of France 1715-1774 – rules with a regent 1715-1723 – rules by himself from 1723 when he is 13 – engaged to the Spanish princess Mariana Victoria 1721-1725
** Catherine Mouchet as Charlotte de la Motte Houdancourt aka Madame de Ventadour (1654-1744) – governess of King Louis XV of France
** Thomas Mustin as Louis Henri Condé aka the Duke of Bourbon (1692-1740) – prime minister 1723-1726
** Didier Sauvegrain as André-Hercule de Fleury (1653-1743) – priest, bishop, cardinal – chief minister of King Louis XV from 1726 until his death in 1743
On the Spanish side
** Lambert Wilson as Philippe d’Anjou (1683-1746) – King Philippe V of Spain: first round 1700-1724 – in 1724, he abdicates in favour of his son – he resumes the crown after seven months when his son dies – king of Spain: second round 1724-1746
** Maya Sansa as Elisabeth Farnese (1692-1766) – the second wife of Philippe d’Anjou – Queen of Spain 1714-1746
** Kacey Mottet Klein as Luis Felipe (1707-1724) – son of Philippe d’Anjou and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy – Prince of Asturias, crown prince of Spain – married to the French princess Louise Elisabeth d’Orleans 1722-1724 – King Luis I of Spain for seven months in 1724
** Juliane Lepoureau as Mariana Victoria (1718-1781) – daughter of Philippe d’Anjou and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese – engaged to Louis XV king of France 1721-1725
The plot – part one
Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.
While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here.
Some details may have been added, changed or excluded for practical reasons or dramatic purposes. But the basic story is true.
The drama takes place in three locations:
# 1. France – The royal Palace of Versailles not far from Paris and in Paris
# 2. Spain – The royal palace in Madrid
# 3. A small island located in the middle of the river Bidasoa which marks the border between France and Spain. The English name is Pheasant Island.
This island has been a condominium (a shared property) between France and Spain since 1659. Under Spain from February to July. Under France from August to January.
The royal exchange of 1721 takes place on this island. The French princess Louise Elisabeth and her official delegation travel south to this island, while the Spanish princess Mariana Victoria and her official delegation travel north to the same place.
The island is uninhabited. There are no buildings on the island. The two delegations meet in a large tent which has been erected for this occasion. The space inside the tent is divided into two separate zones by a line in the middle. On one side, the Spanish delegation. On the other side, the French delegation.
Each princess is pushed to the front of her delegation. When the two young princesses are standing face to face, they cross the line and switch places.
Now the Spanish princess Mariana Victoria is in France with the French delegation, while the French princess Louise Elisabeth is in Spain with the Spanish delegation.
When the ceremony is over, the two princesses travel to their new homes. Mariana Victoria goes north to Paris, while Louise Elisabeth goes south to Madrid.
What did the two princesses think about this plan? They were never asked. They were simply told what was going to happen. They were told what to do.
They were pawns in a game of power and politics where old men used members of their own families to promote their own career and position and to protect their nation.
The king of France and the crown prince of Spain were in fact asked about their opinion. But while they were asked, they were also told that it was in the interests of both nations and both royal families to do this.
In this way, they were under pressure; they were forced to accept a plan which had been made by two men who were much older than them:
** Philippe II d’Orleans (the regent of France)
** Philippe d’Anjou (the king of Spain)
How old were the four participants?
** Mariana Victoria was born in 1718. In 1721, when the deal was done, she was only three!
** Her future husband Louis XV was older than her, but not much older. He was born in 1710 and became the king of France in 1715 at the age of five.
Since he was a minor, he was placed under a regent: Philippe II d’Orleans. In 1721, when the deal was made, he was only 11 and still under his regent.
Since Mariana Victoria was still a child, the couple was not married at once. They were engaged. According to the plan, they would be married at a later date.
** Louise Elisabeth was born in 1709. In 1721, when the deal was made, she was only 11.
** Her future husband Luis Felipe was born in 1707. He was the oldest of the four participants. He was Prince of Asturias, the crown prince of Spain. In 1721, when the deal was made, he was 14.
Louise Elisabeth and Luis Felipe were both young, but the people around them decided that they were old enough to get married. In 1722, Louise Elisabeth and the crown prince of Spain were married.
The plot – part two
As stated above, this historical drama covers royal events in France and in Spain during the years 1721-1725.
The plan is set in motion in 1721. But only two years later, in 1723, it is clear that things are not going well. And in 1725, it is obvious that the plan has failed.
To the people behind the plan, it may have looked like a great idea. But it had a serious flaw: it was not supported by any of the four persons who were supposed to make it happen. They were forced to join the plan, even though none of them really liked it.
When we look at the couple in France, it seems Mariana Victoria tried to do what she was told, but she was only a child. Louis did not care much for her. He wanted to go hunting and to have a good time with his friends. The Spanish princess did not mean much to him.
Why was she brought to France? The purpose was to produce an heir to the throne. But she was just a child. It would take a long time before she would be able to produce an heir.
In 1725, the king and his advisors decided that France could not wait for this to happen. The deal was cancelled. She was shipped back to Spain!
When we look at the couple in Spain, it seems Luis Felipe tried to do the right thing, but Louise Elisabeth refused to play the game. She staged one protest action after another.
In January 1724, when Luis Felipe was made king of Spain, she began to take an interest in him. And when he was attacked by smallpox, she really seemed to care for him, but now it was too late. He died in August after only seven months as king of Spain.
What was the point of having her in Spain once her husband had died? The king and his advisors decided that there was no point, even though she had been married to Luis Felipe and even though she had for a while been the queen of Spain. The deal was cancelled. She was shipped back to France!
Reviews and ratings
What do reviewers say about this historical drama?
Here are some results:
67 percent = IMDb
57 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
100 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
On Amazon France there are at the moment more than 80 ratings of this product, more than 30 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.3 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.
Most reviews are positive. 80 percent offer four or five stars. But a few reviews are negative. Eight percent offer only one or two stars.
The Royal Exchange is an unusual movie about an unusual historical event. There is not much action here.
If you are hoping to see an action movie, you will be disappointed.
What is important in this movie is the characters. We see what happens to them; we see how they respond; how they deal with the situation.
What about the actors?
Thomas Mustin, who plays the Duke of Bourbon, does not play his role well. Otherwise, I think the actors play their roles well.
However, there is a problem with the actors who play the four main characters. They are too old. They are much older than the characters they are supposed to represent. In 1721:
** Mariana is 3
** Louis XV is 11
** Louise Elisabeth is 12
** Luis Felipe is 14
But the four actors who play these characters were much older than that when the drama was made.
This is unfortunate. Perhaps it was difficult or impossible to find four actors who had the proper ages, but the age gap between drama and reality is still a shame.
What about the language spoken in the movie?
The characters in France speak French, which is obviously historically correct. What about the characters in Spain? They also speak French! They should speak Spanish. But they don’t. In this film, all characters speak French!
It would have been historically correct (and helpful for the viewer), if scenes set in France had conversation in French, while scenes set in Spain had conversation in Spanish.
Sadly, this is not the case.
When Louis Elisabeth is told that she will be sent to Spain, she worries about the language. She says: “I do not speak Spanish.” The people around her tell her to calm down: “Don’t worry! They speak French at the Spanish court.”
I think this message is supposed to mean that they understand French. They can speak French with the French princess, which they do.
But in the drama it is worse than that: the Spanish characters speak French to each other, even when the French princess Louise Elisabeth is not around!
This is another violation of historical truth.
As for French princess Louise Elisabeth and her odd
behaviour at the Spanish court, it seems that what we see in the drama is only
a fraction of what happened in real life. What really happened was much worse!
A general problem in this drama is the fact that there are so many characters. It takes a while to find out who is who and how they are related to each other. This is often a problem in historical dramas.
The characters do not always address each other by name, because they already know each other. But the viewer does not know who is who. The viewer would like to know.
A simple solution to this problem is to place an on-screen message with the name next to a character, the first time he or she appears on the screen. Unfortunately, this option is not used in this drama.
Conclusion
When you look at Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a huge gap between the professional critics and the general audience. The critics like this drama, but the audience is not impressed.
In my opinion, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is too high. I want to find a position between these two ratings.
The story of the royal exchange and the plan to arrange two forced marriages in 1721 is an interesting chapter of European royal history which deserves to be told, but in this drama, it is not quite successful.
As you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of these flaws. Therefore, I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. What happened to King Louis XV later on?
In 1725, he married a Polish princess Maria Leszczynska (1703-1768).
She was neither rich nor beautiful, but she was Catholic and she was old enough to be married at once. The couple had ten children.
PS # 2. What happened to Mariana Victoria later on?
In 1729, she married José, who was the crown prince of Portugal.
The couple had eight children of which four survived to become adults. In 1750, when José succeeded his father, he became king and she became queen. She was Queen of Portugal for more than twenty years (1750-1777).
She outlived her husband, who died in 1777. She also outlived
her former French fiancé, who died in 1774. She died in 1781.
PS # 3. What happened to Louise Elisabeth later on?
When she returned to France, she was banned from Versailles. Since her marriage had been cancelled, she did not receive a pension from Spain.
She lived a quiet life as a widow in Paris. In 1842, she died forgotten by all. She paid a high price for the royal exchange of 1721.
PS # 4. The characters seen in this drama belong to the elite of France and Spain. The men have money and power. While the women have less money and less power, they are still members of the elite.
But even a rich man cannot control everything around him. Deadly diseases can strike anybody anytime.
Here are two examples:
** In 1721, Philippe II d’Orleans was the most powerful man in France. He was not an old man. But only two years later he was gone. He lived to be 49.
** In 1721, Luis Felipe was the crown prince of Spain. In January 1724, he became the king of Spain. But only seven months later he was gone; killed by smallpox.
Many children did not live to become adults. The average life expectancy was low. But some people lived to be old, very old. In this drama, we have two such cases:
** Madame de Ventadour lived until she was 89 or 90!
** André-Hercule de Fleury lived until he was 89!
PS # 5. The master plan of 1721 involved a third Franco-Spanish marriage which is not mentioned in this drama:
The French princess Philippine Elisabeth d’Orléans (1714-1734) was chosen to marry the Spanish prince Carlos (Charles) (1716-1788).
The French princess travelled to Spain where she met the Spanish prince. They were engaged but never married.
When the engagement was cancelled, she returned to France where she died of smallpox in 1734. She was only 19 when she died.
Carlos married another woman and became the king of Spain. Under the name Carlos III he ruled 1759-1788.
REFERENCES
# 1. Articles available online
** Ken Jennings, “Why Pheasant Island Is Sometimes in France, Sometimes in Spain,” Condé Nast Traveler,
27 February 2017
** “The Island that switches countries every six months,” BBC News,
28 January 2018
** “The interesting tale of Pheasant Island that changes countries every six months,” Times of India,
10 May 2021
# 2. Books
Louis the Beloved: The Life of Louis XV
by Olivier Bernier
(1984)
Philip V of Spain: The King Who Ruled Twice
by Henry Kamm
(Hardcover 1997)
(Paperback 2001)
The Exchange of Princesses
by Chantal Thomas
(2015)
(This is an English translation of the French original which was published in 2013)
*****
L’échange des princesses
The French title of a historical drama
which premiered
in 2017
*****
L’échange des princesses
A historical novel
By Chantal Thomas
(2013)
*****
The Exchange of Princesses
A historical novel
By Chantal Thomas
(2015)
*****
This old drawing shows Pheasant island
Located in the middle of a river
which marks the border between
France and Spain
*****
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