Let them eat cake

Rating: 3/10 (14 March 2008)

Although watching Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is akin to enduring Chinese water torture, there are lessons to learn from it.
First, if you make a biopic, it's wise NOT TO CUT OUT the most relevant events of that person's life. Examples: don't make a movie about Hitler which ends in 1939. Don't conclude a biography of Julius Caesar in 45 b.C. And don't film a Marie Antoinette biopic without showing her trial and execution.
Second, if your protagonists elicit bored irritation from the audience, it's not a good thing. Personally, I have always regarded the French Revolution as a great event in human history, but I don't think Marie Antoinette (or her unfortunate husband) was the devil or deserved death. Still, after watching for two hours these parasites thrive in useless luxury, I positively wanted them to die. Movies like Marie Antoinette could probably turn even the staunchest monarchist into Robespierre.
Third, I am beginning to think Kirsten Dunst isn't a very good actress (evidence: her little range, her one-note acting), but she is not drawing much attention to the fact thanks to her good looks and to some promising early performances.
Fourth, expensive costumes and set design (the whole thing looks like a glorified Barbie house made with an unlimited budget), plus a slick collection of popular and monstrously anachronistic songs do NOT make a good or even a decent movie.
Last, if you are the daughter of a powerful director and feel depressed because your life is a golden cage, you should seek professional advice rather than making a tedious, somewhat semi-autobiographical movie with an idealized protagonist with whom you identify.
3/10