surface beauty, but that's it

Rating: 4/10 (23 October 2006)

Sofia Coppola certainly has style and an eye for sensual beauty. Kirsten Dunst is an ideal prop for Coppola's images. However, don't go looking to this film for anything deeper than a classy MTV video in corsets and hip padding. Like her supremely better Lost in Translation, Coppola employs deep silences, sparse conversation, and long close ups--unfortunately here it falls flat. Where Lost in Translation was a touching portrayal of love and loneliness, Maria Antoinette is every girl's daydream of being a princess. Jason Schwartzman seemed an odd choice, however he turns in a fantastic portrayal of Louis--quirky and a tad homely, his struggles are very sympathetic.