Undecided, indecisive and definitely not rock 'n roll

Rating: 3/10 (1 August 2006)

Sofia Coppola made a mistake. Who knew she could? Much has been made of the ker-azee rock 'n' roll soundtrack and modern day touches, but the thing is that Marie Antoinette just wasn't a rock 'n' roll enough to warrant this kind of treatment.
Dialogue flickers unevenly between contemporary speak and old-school archaisms. Ditto the costumes: some pink swirls here, a clashing pattern there, but all topped off with lace and severity. What's going on? And is Sofia Coppola paying attention? This is done like a portrait piece, but we never find out anything about Marie Antoinette, we just watch her react, interact and look slightly bemused. Kirsten Dunst is lovely to watch, but in the absence of any real character she amounts to little more than thespian eye candy.
Same goes for the rest of the characters, and France. Coppola decides, understandably, not to let the rest of France in. No shots of orphans, nada, just life at Versailles where the king and queen are so out of place they seem to have fallen through the wardrobe and into Narnia. It's just not any fun. And for something with this many great people in it, that sucks.