Pouring Coca-Cola in the cabernet, Sofia Coppola's dazzling Marie Antoinette couldn't be more anachronistic if it showed the queen of France saying, 'Let them eat sushi.' Coppola works in weird ways, but the real Versailles was so much weirder.
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
Highly theatrical and yet also intimate and informal, Marie Antoinette lets its story slink almost casually through its lovingly composed and rendered images.
A graceful, charming, and sometimes witty confection -- at least for its first hour.
This is one of the most immediate, personal costume dramas ever made, and so it’s not unseemly to consider how the writer-director and her heroine overlap.
The overwrought director sees Marie as France’s most misunderstood monarch, but provides nary one sane member of the court who misunderstands her.
Marie Antoinette creates biography as much through its soundtrack, attitudes and its close-ups as it does through its action and dialogue.
A strong attention to detail with an impressionistic style ... breathes life into the story in unexpected ways.
A fun fantasy frolic... ambitiously stylized... [but] too light and hermetically sealed in the minds of Coppola and her queen to transcend its artfully cared-for fluffiness.
Ms. Coppola and her colleagues have also taken an anachronistic approach to her material with an anarchic pop-music score suggesting the complacent spirit of a contemporary spoiled teenager infatuated with the glistening surfaces of her generation.
Coppola doesn't ask us to take Marie Antoinette as she thinks she was but as she probably was: a little girl who didn't know better.
Cake is the perfect metaphor for this superficial, messy confection of a movie.
The film looks and sounds absolutely splendid, but the story ultimately drags somewhat...
A period piece is expected from directors with two or three successes under their belt. However, in this respect Coppola has modernized the historical epic, with rock music and an occasional converse footed actor.
Let them have eye candy pretty much sums up Sofia Coppola's approach to her revisionist and modernist take on the famous royal airhead who in the end lost her head.
An intriguing if also frivolous revisionist look at the notorious queen ("let them eat cake"), this $40 million folly is a frothy souffle rather than nutritious cuisine, made easy on the eyes by Kirsten Dunst's charm and Milena Canonero's lush costumes.
The movie slices through the cobwebs of history to seek the heart of the young Austrian princess whom 18th century political diplomacy thrust into a maelstrom of court intrigue and poisoned personal relationships without even asking if she minded.
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