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Kirsten Dunst,
Kirsten Dunst,
Jason Schwartzman,
more...
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Sofia Coppola,
Sofia Coppola
see all cast/crew...
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: Sony Pictures
: Drama, Costume Drama/Period Piece, Biopics
: 123 min.
: English, French
: English, French
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Writer and director Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe's most infamous monarchs in this lavish historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time, Marie's trusted older brother, Joseph (Danny Huston), is brought in to coach Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, and Asia Argento, Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Just for fun
by akagaare
June 19, 2007 - 2:33 PM PDT
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| I had heard it was good, and it was, but it doesn't blow my mind - I'm in the same boat about all of Sofia Copolla's films. If you like her other films I think you'll like this one as well. The colors in this film are beautiful as are some of the shots, and I think that was the best part of the film. There are some parts that had me giggling and it is sort of an entertaining romp into the life of Marie Antoinette - a superficial, fun look at this well known name. |
| The Rock 'n' Roll Ancien Regime
by RJones3
May 13, 2007 - 8:22 AM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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The trouble with this movie is the trouble with the ancien regime--insularity and self-indulgence. Count the number of commoners that appear in the movie. Aside from musicians and singers, who were little more than house servants in their day, I counted one--a gardener in Marie Antoinette's lavish recreation of the natural world, who appears rather startled to be found in such a high class film. There is, of course, the mob that appears outside her bedroom window, which is temporarily appeased by her elegant gesture of humility. Don't look for historical accuracy in this movie. A naïve historian using only this movie as a source might think that the French Revolution was brought on by the monarchy's support for American independence.
But this is not a movie about the French Revolution. It is about a young Austrian aristocrat tying to fit into the French aristocracy, into which she has been married. It is largely about her attempts to conceive an heir to the French throne. Every generation discovers sexuality and believes in its animal conceit that only it knows the natural way to do it. In this movie the adolescent is initiated into a culture which seems to have quite forgotten the rudiments of procreation. It is only through gossip at a masked ball that the dauphin comes to realize that perhaps he is missing something. The dauphin, played by Jason Schwartzman, is so incompetent we wonder how he ever could have stumbled into a movie set. He is, however, the perfect foil for the rather bland dauphine, played by Kirsten Dunst, who at least knows how to enjoy herself.
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| Costumes and sets - great; talk - MIA
by wands
February 28, 2007 - 6:02 PM PST
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| The producers spent a lot of money on costumes and sets - spectacular by any standard (and they also appear to have emptied out the BBC wardrobe department in the process). But they had to save money somewhere, and saved a LOT by having as little talking as possible (maybe actors and screenwriters get paid by the word??). And Marie and Louis certainly don't look like they were in their mid-teens when they were married - a major plot point that simply isn't believable from their looks. Suggestion: read the book by Antonia Fraser, and use the movie for how things might have looked. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 5.72)
96 Votes
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