Video: Movie heroes and their prototypes: what Milady was actually branded for
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Of course, it would be more correct to call My lady a literary heroine, because its creator was Alexandre Dumas, but the film image, embodied in an inimitable Margarita Terekhova in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers", so bright and memorable that now it is simply impossible to imagine Lady Winter in another way. But this character also had a real prototype - the famous adventurer Jeanne de la Motte, whose scams influenced the course of historical events in France in the 18th century.
At the age of 16, Dumas branded Milady as a criminal who seduced a priest and forced him to steal church vessels. Lily was a symbol of the royal Bourbon dynasty, she was branded criminals by court verdict. But the woman, who became the prototype of Lady Winter, committed a more serious theft, totaling 1.6 million livres.
Jeanne de Luz de Saint-Remy de Valois, according to legend, came from the family of the illegitimate son of King Henry II. Despite the connection with the oldest family of Valois, the family was poor, Jeanne in childhood begged for alms on the street. There the Marquis of Bouleville saw her, took pity on her and decided to help. She put her in a boarding school for noble maidens at the monastery.
At 22, the girl escaped from the convent with her fiancé, an officer of the Guards, whom she soon married, and became Countess de la Motte. Jeanne made acquaintance with the Bishop of Strasbourg, Cardinal Louis de Rogan. He introduced her to high society. Her cunning, acting skills and intelligence opened the doors of the best houses in France for her.
Jeanne de la Motte went down in history for her grandiose diamond necklace scam. It is to this fact that not only the episode with the diamond pendants of Anna of Austria in The Three Musketeers is dedicated, but also Dumas's novel The Queen's Necklace. Once King Louis XV decided to make a gift to his favorite Madame Dubarry and ordered a necklace of 629 diamonds from the jewelers. The order was fulfilled, but the king died before he could redeem it. Louis XVI refused to purchase a necklace for Marie Antoinette as it was too expensive.
Jeanne managed to convince the cardinal that she was close friends with the queen and could help him restore good relations with the royal couple. Marie Antoinette later denied her acquaintance with the swindler, but it is possible that she knew about her existence. Be that as it may, Jeanne managed to twist the cardinal around her finger: she convinced him that she had organized a correspondence with the queen, although in fact the letters were written by her accomplice, forging handwritings.
In 1785, de la Motte forced the cardinal to sign an agreement with the jeweler to buy back the necklace, allegedly at the request of the queen. Jeanne de la Motte took the necklace to give to Marie Antoinette, and of course, no one else saw the jewelry. Because of this crime, a loud scandal erupted. The jewelers never received any money and turned to the queen. The swindlers were arrested, Jeanne was branded and sentenced to life imprisonment. Despite the fact that Marie Antoinette was not involved in this story, her name was tarnished. The scandal with the necklace contributed to the decline in the prestige of royal power, led to its crisis and the uprising of the people during the Great French Revolution.
The Countess managed to escape from prison. According to legend, she spent the rest of her life in Russia under the name of Countess Gachet and was buried in the Crimea. The fate of the stolen diamonds is not known.
The image of Milady, created by Margarita Terekhova, remains one of the brightest in Soviet cinema, and the actors of the cult film are still popular. Then and now: 15 photos of the heroes who starred in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers"
Recommended:
Movie heroes and their prototypes: truth and fiction about Admiral Kolchak
The sensational film “Admiral” directed by A. Kravchuk in 2008 contains an apologetic interpretation of the image of the famous leader of the White movement, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, while historians, far from canonizing this historical character, insist that this is a pseudo-historical melodrama, and a screen hero too far from real. What is the share of truth and fiction in the film version of historical events?
7 actors who practically repeated the fate of their movie heroes
Even in ancient times, people believed in the existence of fate. The ancient Greeks, for example, worshiped the goddesses of fate, Moiras. They believed that these maidens, personifying inevitability and chance, weave human destinies around the clock, and nothing should distract them. Otherwise, the thread gets confused, breaks, and people's lives also come to an end. In the modern world, people do not fatally believe the stars, but for sure you would have started to bypass a black cat. Representatives of different professions also have their own cleverness
15 famous literary heroes and their unknown prototypes
Literary heroes, as a rule, are fictional fiction of the author. But some of them still have real prototypes that lived at the time of the author, or famous historical figures. We will tell you who these figures were unfamiliar to a wide range of readers
Movie heroes and their prototypes: who Anka the machine gunner really was
Many famous film images have real prototypes. Despite the fact that there was no machine gunner Anka in the legendary Chapaevsk division, this character cannot be called completely fictional. This image was given life by the nurse Maria Popova, who once in battle really had to shoot a machine gun instead of a wounded soldier. It was this woman who became the prototype for Anka from the film "Chapaev", included in the hundred best films in the world. Her fate deserves no less attention than exploits
Movie heroes and their prototypes: the Hollywood myth about cowboys turned out to be far from reality
Dashing heroes from American westerns, firing from two hands from Colts, are nothing more than fiction, another Hollywood myth that largely distorts reality. In fact, in the daily life of cowboys there was much less heroism, romance and firing from revolvers. What exactly were the dashing guys of the Wild West who became the symbols of American culture?