Let's party like it's 1769!

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2006)

Sofia Coppola keeps giving us supremely original and daring films, created from her own uncompromised point of view and aesthetic. She did it with The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation, and she continues that tradition with Marie Antoinette, which is as personal as a costume-heavy period piece could possibly be.
Here, she teams up once again with her Virgin Suicides leading lady, Kirsten Dunst, to create a sumptuous feast for the eyes. Even more impressive: between the magnificently-detailed sets, stunning costumes and its ravishingly beautiful star, Marie Antoinette manages to avoid all the clichés inherent in this kind of movie, by taking a very personal approach. The film focuses on the teenage title character and how she copes with her nearly unimaginable situation while managing to stay true to herself, in the purest ways, throughout.
Coppola's Marie Antoinette is portrayed as a decent, loving individual who conducts herself with astounding restraint, considering her age and the events thrust upon her. It makes you imagine what her life must have been like, from the inside, and it's done in a subtle way, without ever being heavy-handed or overly dramatic.
The only problem I had with the film is that the ending seemed unnecessarily abrupt. While I appreciate that Coppola chose not to "age" the character to 38, when she was subjected to the guillotine, I still felt the ending could have been done in a far more satisfying manner.