30 years of Long Live the Queen

In honour of the 30th anniversary of Long Live the Queen (Lang leve de koningin, NL, Esmé Lammers, 1995), Eye is presenting four costumes from the film: the White Queen, the White King, the Black Horse and the White Horse. The costumes were designed by Linda Bogers. An original film poster is also on display. All items come from Eye's collection centre.

Long Live the Queen is a children's film in which eight-year-old Sara learns to play chess. She struggles at school, but in her dreams and imagination she helps the white queen devise the game of chess in order to prevent the white king from going to war. The film won a Golden Calf for best feature film in 1996. It was the first children's film to win in this category since the award was established in 1981. Long Live the Queen was praised by the press, or, as Jos van der Burg wrote in Het Parool: ‘There are no more excuses, take the whole family to the cinema!’

The costumes of the living chess pieces received much praise; they were designed by costume designer Linda Bogers. Bogers also designed costumes for De tweeling (Twin Sisters, 2002), Bride Flight (2008) and Publieke werken (Public Works, 2015), among others.

White Queen

Played by Monique van de Ven. She wears a long hoop skirt with low shoulders and wide sleeves. The two hoops that shape the lower part of the dress are made of metal, covered with fibre fill. Strips of white ostrich feathers and red feathers are sewn around them.

Unfortunately, the queen's crown was damaged before it came into Eye's possession. The costumes came to Eye after 1999 as part of a donation from production company First Floor Features. In addition to the costumes, the script, storyboard, jury reports and educational materials for primary schools were also donated to Eye.

White King

Played by Jack Wouterse. He wears a white cotton shirt. Front closed, split at the neck, red buttons at the wrists. Over this, a red waistcoat with woven gold leaves. The waistcoat is sewn shut at the front; it opens at the back with Velcro. Over this is the “ermine” cloak, made of faux fur (in the centre front and along the neck), and trimmed along the hem and sleeves with a red polyester strip with a woven motif with silver thread. The cloak is padded with fibre fill under the red edge.

The crown is made of textile, with a raised edge, a felt ball, and a plastic crown glued on top, which resembles reinforced and painted lace. Remarkable: the king's crown seems to be inspired by the crown of the chess piece queen - a joke by costume designer Bogers?

Poster

The iconic poster features Monique van de Ven as the Queen and Tiba Tossijn as Sara.
Poster: Long Live the Queen [Netherlands, 1996, 84x60, A25663]
Design: Ronald Timmermans

Did you know that Eye has more than 60,000 film posters in its collection?

Black Horse and White Horse

The horses represent the chess piece Knight, called 'paard' (horse) in Dutch. The black horses Bob and Gerda were played by Eric van de Steen and Marie José Joore; the white horses Bas and Gijs by Harry Piekema and Bart Feikens.
The horse heads are made of papier-mâché, covered with plaster bandages. The front of the neck is covered with artificial velvet. At the bottom of the neck is a half sphere, so that the horse's head fits securely on the actor's head.

The white horse is in fact a black horse with a white coat, and vice versa. Each horse wears a blanket with a floral motif; the neck is trimmed with yellow fringe at the bottom. On top of the neck and along the nose is a green-brown strip with flowers and leaves. The edges are trimmed with gold-coloured ribbon. Holes for the eyes and ears are trimmed with gold-coloured ribbon with red and green dots and gold-coloured motifs. The whole thing is tied under the head with two ribbons.

Go and see!

Long Live the Queen is screened at Eye on 12, 20 and 24 October, on a beautifully restored 35mm copy.
Also available online on Eye Film Player.

Watch on Eye Film Player