When it was announced that Sofia Coppola, the director of “Lost in Translation,” would be helming a quirky film biography of Marie Antoinette, the mind fairly reeled. Surely this would be a breath of fresh air in the stodgy world of biopics.
Well, Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” is different, all right. But I’m not entirely sure it’s a movie. What it is, undeniably, is a parade of pretty pictures.
Once you get past the punk-rock opening credits and the Gang of Four song on the soundtrack, “Marie” proceeds in a surprisingly unsurprising fashion.
And “fashion” is a key word: this film, which was largely shot at Versailles, fairly bursts with opulent costumes, lush interiors and candies dipped in pink and turquoise. Oh, and wigs – lots and lots of sky-scraping wigs.
The first hour or more of the movie documents the arrival of the young Austrian princess to wed the future Louis XVI of France. She’s played by Kirsten Dunst, he’s played by “Rushmore” star (and Coppola cousin) Jason Schwartzman.
There’s a small amount of extremely uninvolving court intrigue, much of it having to do with Madame DuBarry (Asia Argento), mistress to King Louis XV (Rip Torn). But the focus is on young Louis’ lack of sexual interest, or possibly sexual knowledge. This delays a royal heir by some years.
The film suggests that Marie had an extramarital affair after she became queen. Coppola presents this as simple, girly fun, which is also how she presents Marie’s crazy faux-peasant retreat, Le Petit Trianon (where the pampered queen could pretend to be like the simple folk). There are a couple of references to the crown spending too much money, but the rest is silly frippery – no unpleasant time spent on starving peasants.
Kirsten Dunst is apt casting, and the decision to let her speak in her small, flat American voice was a good one. She sounds like an out-of-place little girl, which is apparently the point of the film.
Why is Coppola content to focus on the queen’s pleasures, omitting not just historical context but also storytelling? Coppola was born into filmmaking royalty (as the daughter of “Godfather” auteur Francis Ford Coppola), and seems to identify strongly with this lost girl. But that’s no reason we have to.
The film is crammed with good people: Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Shirley Henderson, Molly Shannon and Marianne Faithfull (she plays Marie’s mother). Nobody makes any kind of impression, except Torn’s randy monarch and Schwartzman’s dim dauphin.
If you want eye candy, “Marie Antoinette” provides it. But as Marie herself found out, a steady diet of sweets will only take you so far.
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