Marie Antoinette

Rating: 8/10 (28 October 2006)

Marie Antoinette is a unique telling of the story of the legendary French ruler. In the film Marie an Austrian girl is set to marry King Louis XVI in France after it is arranged by the parents. Marie is only 14 when they get married and still as a young woman she has a lot to get used to living in the palace and dealing with scandal, politics and what other people are expecting of her. The film is told in Marie's perspective and deals with her many years being a ruler and her marriage and the problems that later became of her and France. Marie Antoinette has good direction, a good screenplay, good performances by the entire cast, good original music, good cinematography, good film editing, good production design, good art direction, good set decoration, good costume design and good hair and makeup. This movie is one of the most gorgeous looking films I have ever seen. Everything from the sets, makeup, costumes and more all look great and very much like the 1800's. It is a visually stunning looking film. The film also has good performances, direction and a very original and unique script that approaches the story in a very interesting screen. Behind the scenes of this movie the film is virtually perfect with everything down to the last detail looking perfect on screen and playing out very well. The film's writer/director Sofia Coppola makes the film interesting by adding some humour to it, giving it a good pace and even putting in some modern day music set to some of the scenes as well as classical music and it all works very well. I could see how a lot of directors would try and make this movie and it would end up a dry and boring period piece, but this film is anything but that. I also liked how the story was told in Marie's perspective and the film showed her as being a normal human being and showing her just like anyone else. Because of her age I think the film did her justice by showing that she was a little immature at times and did some things purely because of her age and that she wasn't really mature or ready enough to be in this sort of situation. I liked how the film portrayed her and didn't try to make her look perfect and wasn't afraid to showcase her difficulties and true self during this movie. Because the film looks great, is entertaining, original in the style it brings the story and because it is a well paced and well made film in every way I really enjoyed this film. That being said some of the things I liked about this film will not appeal to everyone and I'm sure historians will find enough that isn't truly accurate of the real Marie Antoinette and that may ruin the film for them. Still, I enjoyed it a lot and I think people like myself who didn't know a lot about the real Marie Antoinette in the first place may find enough to like in this film and appreciate it as I did. It definitely won't appeal to everyone, but for a more artistic crowd this movie will probably play for them pretty well. I would also like to note that I wasn't really big on Sofia Coppola's first two films The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation not because they were bad films, but because they just did little for me. This film did a lot for me and I see a lot of greatness in Sofia's direction which makes me almost want to re-watch the previous two films and makes me eager to see what else she will put out in the next couple of years.