Marie Antoinette

When I heard about writer/director Sofia Coppola’s irreverent, unorthodox take on the story of Marie Antoinette, I was so there. In spirit, anyway… I never could make it to a screening, but as soon as I got it, I eagerly slipped the DVD into my player and anxiously waited to see why the movie was booed at Cannes last year.

I liked both of Coppola’s previous films. “The Virgin Suicides” was a bit slow, but certainly engrossing and emotional. “Lost in Translation” had the same vibe, but in addition there was sumptuous cinematography and a breathtaking command of arty composition.

Her third, and certainly most ambitious film, “Marie Antoinette”, is a bit slow yet engrossing…however, it’s missing the emotional pull and the lavish visuals I was hoping for. It’s also not nearly as impertinent as I had hoped—there are flashes of funky fun (a musical montage set to Bow Wow Wow’s ’80s hit, “I Want Candy”; modern-sounding dialogue; and even a pair of high-heeled sneakers strewn amongst Marie’s extravagant shoe collection) but they are brief and too far-between.

DP Lance Acord is once more behind the camera (he did Coppola’s LIT—and another film I consider a real treat for the eyes, “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys”), but here his lighting is flat and dull, his composition is staid, and while the costumes, sets, and locations are magnificent, they just didn’t ‘pop’ onscreen.

As for the lack of story ‘pop’, I already knew that I’d be seeing the day-to-day machinations of Marie, without much of the politics, intrigue, or plotting (or the beheading) that made her famous. But I didn’t think I’d be seeing the same routines of her life shown over and over again.

Enough about my own dashed expectations. Is “Marie Antoinette” a bad movie? No, not at all. In fact, I’d watch it again. While Kirsten Dunst is a good decade older than Marie when she first came to court, and 26-year-old Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI from the ages of 12 through early adulthood is a stretch, I was fine with it. I liked the crazy casting—Texan Rip Torn is a delight as Louis XV, as is Italian Asia Argento playing Madame Pompadour, and British comedian Steve Coogan as Ambassador Mercy is sublime. (That’s just naming a few—the cast is peppered with recognizable yet unexpected faces.)

“Marie Antoinette” does a good job on its sly, subtle digs at holding the gilded mirror to today’s media divas with the French queen standing in for Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, et al. Her “paparazzi” and “tabloid trash” were the political cartoons and printed propaganda of the day; now the frivolous and naive queen might have been arrested and sent to rehab—not, as she was, arrested and sent to the guillotine.

The DVD includes “The Making of Marie Antoinette”, which is presented in a pretty standard manner (cast interviews, behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsals and scenes being shot), yet it’s quite interesting. There are also two “Deleted Scenes” (one of which takes place at the opera, but with two other opera performances in the movie, it made sense to cut this one). Finally, there’s a humorous “Cribs with Louis XVI”, which is a take-off on M-TV Cribs, showing Schwartzman in costume giving a guided tour of Versailles.