Marie Antoinette

Following on the heels of The Queen, the new film about the French queen, entitled Marie Antoinette will not get the standing ovation that the aforementioned film received. Although writer/director Sofia Coppola has some beautiful scenes in her newest film, they are long, boring and full of fluff. This has to be one of the most uninteresting biopics ever made. If the real Marie-Antoinette had really lived the life portrayed in this film I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had gone to the guillotine and taken her own head.

Kirsten Dunst plays the beautiful queen. Although she reveals more in this film than ever before, she still retains a small amount of modesty. She is depressed because she has left her country of Austria and has been betrothed to the dauphin (prince), Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). He seemingly has no interest in her, in part because their characters are both still in their teens and despite how randy and raucous his father, King Louis XV (Rip Torn), may be, obviously he never took the time to teach his son about the birds and the bees.

Marie-Antoinette tries her lackadaisical best to seduce him but he resists. So she spends each day waiting to see who has the honor of dressing her, then off to church services and watching her husband eat breakfast while she waits her turn. Then the days consist of her listening to gossip and having clothes made and trying on shoes and wigs. After enough boredom she decides to throw some parties, go to the opera and liven things up for a stodgy country. It works for awhile, but soon the starving peasants are beating down their doors. The movie never actually shows what becomes of Louis and Marie, but it should’ve just to wake people up.

Plenty of relatively acting talent was used in the film, such as Steve Coogan, Marianne Faithfull, Judy Davis & Molly Shannon. Unfortunately, Marie Antoinette is directed in such a way that the viewer never really cares about any of the characters anymore than the characters seem to care for anyone else in the film.

The French government actually let Coppola shoot in the palace at Versailles while it was being renovated, so the sets and castle are all real. This adds some authenticity to the few lines that were actually said by the queen.
Still it doesn’t help the ennui that the viewer has to suffer through.

The riding scenes and outdoor scenes, which are soft and feel like a commercial for feminine products, are way too long. If the editing would’ve been tightened up to make this a 70 or 80 minute film, maybe it would’ve seemed like something was being accomplished...but doubtful.
 

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