Coppola brilliantly conjures the young queen's insular world, in which she was both isolated and claustrophobically scrutinized. While not celebrating Marie Antoinette's reign, Coppola clearly sympathizes with a girl who was less heedless than naive.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:170
Fresh:92
Rotten:78
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style complete takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola's vision of the doomed queen.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content, partial nudity and innuendo.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:2006
Box Office: $15,962,471
Synopsis: Oscar® winner Sofia Coppola brings to the screen a fresh interpretation of the life of France's legendary teenage queen MARIE ANTOINETTE. Betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve... Oscar® winner Sofia Coppola brings to the screen a fresh interpretation of the life of France's legendary teenage queen MARIE ANTOINETTE. Betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) at the age of 14, she is thrown into the opulent French court which is steeped in conspiracy and scandal. Alone, without guidance, and adrift in a dangerous world, the young Marie Antoinette rebels against the isolated atmosphere at Versailles and, in the process, becomes France's most misunderstood monarch. Kirsten Dunst stars as the youthful princess whose fateful life became the stuff of myth and legend. The story begins when 14-year-old Marie Antoinette is whisked away from her family and friends in Vienna, stripped of all her possessions and deposited in the sophisticated and decadent world of Versailles, the lavish royal court near Paris. Marie Antoinette is merely a pawn in an arranged marriage meant to solidify the harmony between two nations. Her teenage husband, the Dauphin Louis (Jason Schwartzman), is heir to the French throne. But Marie Antoinette is ill prepared to be the kind of ruler for whom the French populace yearns. Beneath her finery, she's a sheltered, frightened and confused young woman, surrounded by vicious detractors, insincere flatterers, puppet masters and gossips. Trapped by the conventions of her station in life, Marie Antoinette must find a way to fit into the complex and treacherous world of Versailles. Adding to her woes is the indifference of her new husband, Louis. Their marriage goes unconsummated for an astonishing seven years. The awkward future king proves to be a disaster as a lover, sparking grave concerns (and relentless gossip) that Marie Antoinette will never produce an heir. Overwhelmed and distraught, Marie Antoinette seeks refuge in the decadence of the French aristocracy and in a secret love affair with the alluring Swedish Count Fersen (Jamie Dornan). Her indiscretions are soon the talk of France. Whether she is being idealized for her impeccable style or vilified for being unforgivably out of touch with her subjects, reaction to Marie Antoinette is always extreme. Yet, slowly, as she matures, she begins to find her way as a wife, mother and Queen — only to be tragically swept up in a bloody revolution that alters France forever. -- © Columbia Pictures [More]
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Coogan, Judy Davis
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, Asia Argento, Marianne Faithfull, Aurore Clement, Molly Shannon, Shirley Henderson, Jamie Dornan
Director: Sofia Coppola
Director: Sofia Coppola
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola, Ross Katz
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Reviews for Marie Antoinette
The music is heavenly in its use and perfect for the tone, rustling up an emotional response far greater than anything brought about from the characters themselves.
One of the most vapid and unentertaining stories I've had the displeasure of seeing this year.
If not so witty as Coppola's Lost in Translation, this is like a funnier and feminine Barry Lyndon.
Is there a more perfect soundtrack to a forbidden romp between a teenage princess and Count Axel von Fersen (Dior model Jamie Dornan) than 'Kings of the Wild Frontier' by Adam & the Ants?
After seeing Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, I realize there was no need for the bloodshed... Had the mobs left [Marie and Louis XVI] alone, they'd have bored themselves and everyone else in the aristocracy to death.
Too bad it signifies nothing. Marie Antoinette is a languorously detailed period piece, partly filmed at the palace in Versailles, that is almost pornographically obsessed with fashion, jewelry and desserts.
Marie Antoinette never gets to the part where her head gets lopped off, but it would sure perk things up.
Coppola has not made the anticipated period piece or even character study. Her third film, instead, is all about mood: artfully capturing the anxieties inherent in being a young, confused woman far from home.
Insouciant but never cavalier, Coppola's latest effort should prove definitively she's a talent in her own right.
The movie falls apart when the peasants storm the palace in 1789, an event completely outside Coppola's frame of reference -- at least until the Cannes premiere.
The prettiest movie of the year so far, Marie Antoinette is also one of the most thrillingly original.
Perhaps Marie Antoinette can best be appreciated in the haphazard way you savor a pop song that's about nothing beyond its own expression of energy and flash.
The absence of accents is distracting, as is a smugness that makes this bratty time warp of a dramedy somewhat condescending to its source material.
Coppola’s script is comic-book silly ('We’re too young to reign'), and she has studded the movie with miscast talent.
Coppola succeeds at her main goal: Marie and the court are presented to us, not embalmed in stilted "period" language and affect, but with more familiar trappings.
Is it possible to make a film that evokes both Barry Lyndon and National Lampoon’s European Vacation? Sofia Coppola has had a decent stab at it.
This bold and inimitable movie is the best flick made by a Coppola in 27 years.
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