Our 2018 Opening Film, The Royal Exchange, based on the eponymous best-selling historical novel by Chantal Thomas, is a stunning costume drama with an unusual story.

In 2018, a royal marriage looks like a fairytale: Prince Harry falls in love with a beautiful commoner, Meghan Markle, and their marriage is celebrated around the world. Things were different in the past, when princesses were used as pawns in the political games of the day. This is one of those true stories. True but probably not entirely accurate... Nevertheless, it is the kind of fascinating historical romance that says a lot about power.

A bit of historical background: The possibility of Louis, Duke of Anjou, great grandson of Louis XIV becoming King seemed very remote: his uncle, father, and elder bother were ahead of him in the succession line, after all of Louis XIV's children had died. However, after all three of them died from measles, Louis' governess Madame de Ventadour (Catherine Mouchet) famously saved Louis from inept doctors, and he survived to inherit his great grandfather's throne and become Louis XV at the age of five. He will be King for more than 58 years (1715-1774), the second-longest reign in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor, Louis XIV.

In 1721, Louis XV (Igor van Dessel) is only 11 years old - less than two years away from his thirteenth birthday when he will come of age and fully reign in his own name. Till then, his cousin, Philippe d'Orléans (Olivier Gourmet, The Midwife - SFFF 2017) is the Regent of France. Wanting to seal the peace with Spain after years of war, he offers to the Spanish King (Lambert Wilson, The Odyssey - SFFF 2017, Corporate - MiniFest 2017) a marriage between their respective heirs: Louis XV will marry Maria Anna Victoria (Juliane Lepoureau) the 4-year-old Spanish infanta; while Philippe d'Orléans' daughter, Mademoiselle de Montpensier (Anamaria Vartolomei), age 12, will marry the 14-year-old heir to the Spanish throne. Madrid responds enthusiastically to both proposals, and the ceremonies are promptly organized. The exchange of the princesses is to take place with great pomp at the border of the two countries, where the young girls are to leave everything they owned and everyone they knew behind.