The King's Daughter is a 2022 action-adventure fantasy film directed by Sean McNamara from a screenplay by Barry Berman and James Schamus. It is based on the 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre. The film stars Pierce Brosnan as King Louis XIV, Kaya Scodelario as Marie-Josèphe, and Benjamin Walker as Yves De La Croix. It was William Hurt's final screen performance to be released before his death in March 2022, though not his final film work, as it had been filmed eight years earlier.
Principal photography began in early April 2014 in Versailles, France. After the two-week shoot in France, production then began on April 23 in Melbourne, Australia. Shooting wrapped up at the end of May.
Originally intended to be released in April 2015, the film was delayed just three weeks prior in order to complete post-production effects. It sat in development hell for over five years, until the distribution rights were acquired by Gravitas Ventures, which theatrically released it on January 21, 2022 to negative reviews.
Plot
Marie-Josèphe, born and raised in a convent in France, is a rebellious free spirit who often causes trouble for the Abbess. Marie-Josèphe's father, King Louis XIV, fears for his own mortality after being wounded by an assassin's bullet, but is told by Dr. Labarthe about a magical underwater creature that can grant him immortality; the procedure involves cutting out the creature's heart during an eclipse. Louis sends a group of fishermen, led by Captain Yves De La Croix, to capture the creature, a mermaid. Her mate is also caught, but Yves releases him before heading back to France.
Per the king's request, father La Chaise travels to the convent to bring Marie-Josèphe back, giving her the impression that she is traveling to play music in Versailles. Upon arriving in Versailles, Marie-Josèphe befriends a servant named Magali, but no one else knows she is the king's daughter. The following morning, Louis meets with Jean-Michel Lintillac, son of a wealthy baron who is gravely ill and ready to pass on, making Lintillac inherit a fortune and prestige. While out for a stroll with Magali, Marie-Josèphe meets Yves, and the two fall in love. She also encounters Lintillac and her father for the first time, though he still doesn't tell her about his relation to her.
The mermaid is brought into a chamber beneath the castle. Later, as Marie-Josèphe tries to practice in her room, she follows a strange noise to the mermaid's prison, where she encounters both the creature and Yves. At a grand ball the next day, Marie-Josèphe shares a dance with Louis, and later finds him outside painting a picture of a woman called Louise, telling Marie-Josèphe that she reminds him of her.
Louis appoints Lintillac with the title of Duke, and later holds a dinner in his honor. Marie-Josèphe visits the mermaid again and joins her underwater. Yves later takes Marie-Josèphe for a horse ride, but she falls and severely breaks her arm; Labarthe states that the arm will need to be amputated. Yves brings Marie-Josèphe and Magali to the mermaid, who completely heals Marie-Josèphe's arm. Marie-Josèphe assumes that Louis has brought the mermaid to France to heal the citizens, but she is told that the mermaid is for the king's purpose only.
Louis arranges for Lintillac to marry Marie-Josèphe so that they can share in Lintillac's fortune. He comes clean to Marie-Josèphe about being her father and that he wants her to marry Lintillac. She refuses and runs away crying, leaving Louis feeling remorseful.
La Chaise visits the mermaid and, realizing she is a sentient being, he confronts Labarthe and Louis, but both refuse to change their minds. Marie-Josèphe visits the mermaid, who shows her a telepathic vision of her capture. Meanwhile, Yves slips a picture of the procedure under Marie-Josèphe's door, alerting her to the king's true plans. She confronts Louis, telling him that she will marry Lintillac if he lets the mermaid go, but he refuses. As everyone prepares for the wedding, La Chaise and Marie-Josèphe go to the chamber where Yves is trying to get the mermaid out. They are found by Labarthe, but they fight him off to give the mermaid time to escape. Labarthe shoots Yves, who falls into the water and is taken along by the fleeing mermaid. Marie-Josèphe gets Labarthe caught in a water wheel that pulls him underwater, drowning him.