Intoxicating

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2010)

This film seems to have earned a rather bad reputation, for reasons that I cannot really understand.
True, it takes some liberties with history (and usually I am a stickler for accuracy!) but in this case it does not compromise the overall message or purpose of the film, instead helping to show Marie Antoinette, the doomed Queen of France, as a young woman caught up in events that are completely out of her control, rather than the almost fairy-tale villain she has become over the years, seen to not care for the starving French peasants and being said to have flippantly proclaimed "Let them eat cake!"
The actors are far better than you may have been led to believe; all of them humanise historical figures who seem to have faded to caricatures of themselves in the centuries since their deaths. They embody the characters and conjure real feelings of pathos: Kirsten Dunst in particular is superb as Marie Antoinette, making the audience really feel her loneliness and sorrow throughout her life as well as the heady delights and pleasures of being Queen of France and having her every whim catered to. The actors use their natural accents, leaving a mix of English, American, Scottish and more, but this does not distract from the film – indeed it is far less distracting than everyone merely assuming the standard costume-drama English accent would have been!
This film is a visual masterpiece, with the scenery, costumes, hair and set dressing all contributing to make an intoxicating feast for the eyes that paints a vivid picture of life at the French court, and I feel that Coppola's vision truly captures the almost ignorant decadence and opulence of the French court at Versailles at this time. The film looks like a wonderful fairy-tale, dreamlike, beautiful, elegant and perfect and the music, whilst some criticise the use of modern new wave and pop music, seems somehow to fit in with the scenes used. In particular, I loved the use of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Hong Kong Gardens" during a masked ball and New Order's "Ceremony" during Marie's birthday party.
Overall, I love this film and whilst it is not the most accurate of films, it captures the spirit of the time and gives a taste of what life at Versailles may have been like. Most importantly, it shows Marie Antoinette as a real person, showing you her life from leaving home to marry a stranger, seeking acceptance in her new country and all the difficulties her marriage and then her husband's ascension to the throne brings and always leaving you feeling terribly empathetic and sympathetic for the poor, naïve Queen of France, who seems to have meant well but been terribly out of her depth.