Not Perfect -- But So Much Better Than I Expected!

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2006)

I never thought this movie would move me the way it did. I'm against all forms of class privilege and aristocratic behavior, in any society at any time. I never liked Marie Antoinette or her world. This movie disturbed me because I thought it would be shallow and silly, but after an hour or so I really found myself liking and sympathizing with Marie Antoinette. I think the negativity that surrounds this movie comes from just that fact: people are forced to find Marie Antoinette inside themselves, and many lack the honesty to face the truth. This movie, which seems shallow and silly, is actually incredibly daring and demands a great deal from the viewer. It demands you live Marie Antoinette's life with her, and that you see her on her own terms.
Of course, Kirsten Dunst is an astonishingly gifted actress. Her self confidence and naturalness are so compelling, no matter how unreal the moment she finds the true core of the emotions. What's striking is the way Sofia Coppola seems to know exactly what a genius Kirsten is, and seems to almost relish giving her the leeway to do things her way. It's almost like the movie is the director's love letter to her star, in that there are countless flattering shots of Kirsten Dunst at her most radiant. Yet the flattery is also aimed at her talent. Sofia pays Kirsten the supreme compliment of total trust. This Marie has not a trace of any accent, French or Austrian. Cate Blanchett wouldn't have done it this way. But Kirsten is different. It's like she won't waste your time with showing off her little gimmicks, because she's too eager to start feeling and reacting in her own way.
When you watch the movie, you don't really hear Marie Antoinette say things, like "I'm lonely" or "where do I belong?" But somehow the stunning images of flowers, clothes, shoes, and the longing on Kirsten Dunst's face all come together in a pattern that draws you in deeper and deeper. By the time Marie is building her secret world in the country, with farm animals and flowers and intimate dinner parties with friends, you totally understand her. Far from being a coward who ran away from the real world, Marie Antoinette was a brave soul who did her best to find something real to care about.
But it's not just Kirsten's movie. Jason Schwartzmann gives the most restrained, disciplined performance I have ever seen as the sad, timid, excruciatingly polite Louis XVI. Jason makes you ache for this poor young man, and yet as an actor he absolutely refuses to make any of the "easy" choices. He never shows easy lust, easy longing, easy likability. You are really forced to feel the terrible wall he has built around himself, and see how hard Marie had to work to get to know him. And you start to see how an ordinary, not very bright young man is forced to cope with the public role of king. You don't blame him for his behavior even when you see how it hurts Marie. He's doing the best he can, and by the end they really love each other, even if they have none of the usual "star chemistry" we expect to see in movies. What we get instead is almost anti-chemistry -- two people with no physical bond who make the best of things and grow as a result.
One final comment: nearly all the negative reviews of this movie focus on the idea that Sofia Coppola doesn't show the peasant's point of view, that she doesn't feel their pain or acknowledge their anger. One admiring review here on IMDb even said that she has compassion for everyone except the peasants. But I would put it another way. I think the final sense you get is that she doesn't judge anyone, not even the peasants. They do what they have to do to survive. Just like Marie. And the viewer can feel deeply about both, or neither.
For myself, when the film ended, and Marie said, "I'm saying good-bye" I felt like I had really learned something about compassion and loss, without forgetting what I knew when I came into the theater.
Time will tell, but I think MARIE ANTOINETTE will be much more appreciated in the years to come than it was at the time of its initial release.