All the French Dogs you want

Rating: 5/10 (20 October 2006)

Greetings again from the darkness. Sophie Coppola has two brilliant films to her credit already: "Lost in Translation" and "The Virgin Suicides". Beginning one's directing career with those two can only lead to unrealistic expectations. So, yes I will admit to a bit of anticipation for "Marie Antoinette", and yes I now feel truly disappointed.
Ms. Coppola again shows her remarkable eye with a visual feast of sets, costumes, make-up and poses. What makes this one so tough to take is that she totally forgets to give us a story or make us care about anyone in the film. I will even use the word BORING. The slow pacing works beautifully at first as we are forced to endure the endless string of passionless nights and daytime distance that the two newlyweds go through. However, once Marie gets over that hurdle and decides to live her life, the film should have taken off with fun, frivolity and festiveness. Even the parties seem slow!
Kirsten Dunst does an admirable job as the young queen who is so naive and alone and in pain. Watching the film leaves us with the feeling that much of the guts of the film were left on the editing room floor. Jason Schwartzman (so fine in "Shopgirl" and "Rushmore") is perfectly cast and he does a nice job of underplaying his character. The wonderful Judy Davis is downright frightening in her scenes with Dunst - is she wearing a neck prosthesis or are those really her neck ligaments? Marianne Faithful (still alive after the Jagger years), Shirley Henderson, Steve Coogan and Rip Torn are all fine in their roles, although Molly Shannon is totally out of place in Versailles.
Ms. Coppola again shows her knack for perfect music selections for mood and scene, but it is just not enough to save this one. No way this disappointment will keep me from her next outing, but my expectations might be a bit lower for that one.