Marie Antoinette [DVD] [2006] [2007]

It's not perfect, but it's a much better piece of cinema than its critics would have you believe. In fact, what is created here is a deliciously personal movie about a historical figure - made not as an epic, but as an intimate and `in-the-moment' portrayal of a teenager in over her head.
It's the first key to liking this movie - it is a teen-movie. Not for them but about one. As such, all we are seeing is how Marie Antoinette must have seen her life. A young teenager put into a political arranged marriage as the Dauphine of France, she has to leave all behind and finds herself in an intolerable situation (an unconsummated marriage - for 7 years!) with no frame of reference. That's the second key to liking it - it is about her removal from a sense of reality - Versaille is geographically, politically, socially and economically isolated from the reality of France, until the tragic end. (a tragic end which the movie stops just before, incidentally).
This lack of a reality touchstone sends the teenager into spirals of excess - and yet Kirsten Dunst finds new depths in portraying her as indulgent, and yet sincere. Petulant yet patient and revelling in luxury, yet loyal regardless of cost. The movie itself has been criticised for having discordant elements - modern (and 80's) music, hand held camera movements, brighter than bright colours - and yet this is highly effective at making this story real, and not a historical document - exactly what Sofia Coppola was trying to achieve. One scene which exemplifies this, is the masked ball - an occasion which should in most period movies would be starchy and elegant - but here is almost like a night club or a rave with pounding soundtrack - and this is precisely the excitement and impression this occasion would have engendered in a spoilt and privileged teenager.
Finally, the other ingredients (an apt turn of phrase since everything looks like candy) that complete the feel of the movie - the set design and the music. The film was given complete access to Versaille, which makes the location vivid and real - and yet in set design the filmmakers have made these places not a museum, but a real vibrant place home to many. And of course all the wonderful bright and pastel shades made so that `everything looks like cake' are terrific to watch. And then the music - apart from the occasional pop song as mentioned before, the music actually evokes various moods - from the lyrical simplicity of rural France, to melancholy similar in tone to the soundtrack of Lost in Translation, through to modern beats - it's a brilliant and imaginative score.
Top marks to Coppola - I preferred this even to Lost in Translation. It certainly won't be to everyones taste and best rented than bought - but it is a uniquely personal movie deserving a viewing so you can make up your own mind.

This movie although it has some excellent ideas and looks a treat is not the complete package. Be prepared for Marie Antoinette rather strangely speaking American English along with everyone else at the court of Versailles, stunning costumes, stunning settings, shots and views that look like 18th century paintings, lots of moving images to the sound of some great 1980's forgotten sounds; Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and Siouxsie and the Banshees to name but three. Now do I make it sound like a very expensive music video? Well in some ways it is and those scenes with the juxtaposition of new and old are unusual and memorable. The photography and attention to detail of the Versailles court is simply stunning, the superbly shot scenes must have taken much research and time, and it purveys the claustrophobic atmosphere, the pointless rituals, the luxury, the lack of reality of the rich as well as the total lack of privacy that our heroine encountered every day. But by mid way through that's not enough, you need more of a plot, more of a script, more use of the decor. So my advise is don't think too deeply just enjoy the view.

I really enjoy Sofia Copolla's films and the aesthetic she evokes. Everything that you would expect from Lost in Translation and the Virgin Suicides is present here; closely observed character, 'total environmental immersion' film-making, an effortlessly tranquil and subversive soundtrack and refined performances from the cast. Unlike some reviewers, I felt Copolla's mixture of modernity and period sensibility is both respectful to the material and engaging. As with her other films, there remains an emotional distance between character and viewer - in part this provides greater intimacy between the two as we observe characters undertaking the mundane without needless exposition. It always struck me in Copolla's earlier films, however, that the remoteness was balanced against the vulnerability of characters when they do engage in meaningful discourse and it was this flowering of the characters that made the films so charming. This was far less evident to me in Marie Antoinette and therefore, I can only give it four stars; a refreshing and touching movie but one that never quite lets you in.