Post by StevePulaski on Mar 7, 2011 13:29:49 GMT -5
Marie Antoinette has everything she could ever want in her self-titled film.
Rating: ★★★
While Marie Antoinette is beautifully directed and acted, there is somewhat of an annoyance that goes through my mind as I watch it. It could be the fact I'm not into many period pieces, or just the fact that the film is a bit slow it doesn't matter. Marie Antoinette is a glorious look at the 17th century France, and how they reacted to a foreign queen leading the country.
The film doesn't go into The French Revolution too much which is a shame. I could see a violent and gruesome film rise from those ashes. It's a shocker no one has made a French Rev. film in quite sometime. I'd like to see a $70 million film on bloody beatings, rage, and hatred for the government. We just got a taste of that in Egypt not too long ago.
The plot focuses on Marie Antoinette (Dunst) as she moves into Versailles at the age of fourteen and becomes Queen of France five years later. The film is a pretty accurate description of her life, and that's about the extent of the plot.
One of Marie's biggest problems is she came from Austria, and is a foreigner to the French community. She's treated unfairly and it's almost like she is the uncool girl at school trying desperately to fit in and be accepted by her peers. What she went through seemed tough, but by the end of her ruling when TFR gets into high gear it becomes more her and Louis' fault as she starts to bring the blame on herself.
Kristen Dunst gives a beautiful performance her. She pretty much always looks her best in the film, and is a very attractive women throughout. The attention to detail on France, the costume design, the characters, and pretty much everything is pristine, and it does it's best to look like it was in the 17th century. It achieves at that goal.
What Marie Antoinette really has going for it is it's ravishingly gorgeous costume design. I mentioned the attention to detail is pristine, but the costumes are just simply breathtaking. It's Oscar worthy material in the Art Direction field.
Marie Antoinette was directed by Sofia Coppola, the daughter of the director Francis Ford Coppola. Sofia does a pretty nice job at adapting this story to film, but her film before this Lost in Translation, I found, to be more entertaining. Marie Antoinette achieves at being a well documented film on the life of Marie, but doesn't seem as good as it could've been. If maybe it started later in her life and went on into The French Rev. it could've been more respectable, but regardless, it's still a film with beautiful people and costumes. I can give it that.
Starring: Kristen Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, and Rose Byrne. Directed by: Sofia Coppola.