Marie Antoinette

SYNOPSIS:

Marie Antoinette tells the story of the Austrian girl who became a young French queen. It details her decadent lifestyle among a court of catty gossips in the days leading up to the Revolution.

Directed by Sofia Coppola (Francis' daughter)
123 mins. - Rated: PG-13
Starring Kirsten Dunst as the original party-girl Marie Antoinette and Jason Schwartzman as her reserved husband, Louis XVI.

REVIEW by Cinemagirl:

I heard the French actually booed this film at Cannes and some even got up and left the theatre. But can you imagine if someone had made a film about, say, Martha Washington, that showed her as a partying trollop, like some 18th century Paris Hilton?

I rather liked the film and its take on history. There were several dreamy sequences that were shot handheld, with shots cutting to another vantage point of the same shot multiple times, that felt like 60s avant garde films. The sequence with Marie Antoinette getting cozy in her country cottage was really nice and sunny, like a Super 8mm home film, with the sounds of the swaying fields and bumblebees in the garden layered heavy in the foreground.

Other nice sequences included a scene with Marie and two of her ladies trying on these crazy tarty shoes and stuffing themselves with decadent sweets. The scene was edited entirely to modern music, as is much of the film, which made the characters seem all the more similar to the bimbo socialite crowd today that is on the cover of high-profile magazines sporting the latest styles and miniature dogs.

I recommend renting this flick. It was a nice follow-up to Sofia Coppola's last story. It doesn't seem at all similar to "Lost in Translation," but it was alike in that it closely follows the daily life and emotions of another young woman. I hope Ms. Coppola continues in this vein.

STORY: 7 out of 10
LOOK: 8.5 out of 10
ACTING: 8 out of 10

OVERALL: 8 of 10

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REVIEW by LEWIS

I'll be honest, when I see frilly phoo phoo period costumes I usually assume that I'm going to get some kind of BBC made for TV "let's celebrate Europe's history!" kind of movie. But, when I heard that Ms. Coppola was making Marie Antoinette I thought, "Hmmm, this should be pretty interesting."

I saw the teaser on the Quicktime website about a year ago, which featured New Order's song "Age of Consent", and I was stylistically hooked. "Could this really be a new take on a period film?" Well, it is...and it isn't.

As my comrade mentioned above, there are some WONDERFUL moments in the film that capture the emotion through interesting camera movement and shots (new wave all the way). I wish there was more of that in the whole film. It would go back to that grand dolly shot, or stagnant portraiture mise en scene. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it is really beautiful. But the thought of an entire film about one of the most famous Queens of all time being shot cinema verite seemed REALLY EXCITING. So I was a little let down.

However, I was happy with the angle of the story. It really was through the eyes of a naive, silver-spooned rich girl that lived in the bubble of Versailles. You almost felt sorry for her, really. I'm sure Sofia Coppola could relate to that young rich kid lifestyle, through herself and her friends. Honestly, the same story could relate to George Bush in his Yale days, a young DuPont, or a little Rockefeller. The blue-bloods live in their own world, and that is where the film was placed.

Acting was great. I think Sofia Coppola is becoming a great director of actors. In each of her films she seems to give them a lot of latitude to discover their characters and it really shows through the lens.

Overall this is a great way to experience a period piece film. It's different from most, all though I personally wish it pushed the envelope a little more.

STORY: 7 out of 10
LOOK: 7 out of 10 (should have gone further)
ACTING: 8 out of 10

OVERALL: 7.5 of 10