Every bit as shallow and superficial as its protagonist, Marie Antoinette is like a great big chocolate cake: Lacking nutrition, but oooh so gorgeous!

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2006)

Don't just "Let them eat cake", let them bathe in it, with diamond bracelets all aglow, amidst a flowery bed of sumptuous 18th Century dresses and gorgeous green countryside. Perhaps this would be the message in Sofia Coppola's latest, and most ambitious, project to date, had it even the glimmer of true substance, amid the confectionery of chocolate and delightful outfits. Kirsten Dunst is Marie Antoinette, the Austrian aristocrat who is sent to France to wed the King's son Louis XVI (Schwartzman). Only fourteen, she is thrust into an all too unfamiliar technique of behaving like a royal, and living in the expectations of a nation.
Whilst Coppola has not made a film devoid of emotional depth, the only true reason to enjoy this period epic is to engulf oneself into the self-indulgence of our heroine. She eats, sleeps, parties and buys her way to death, and although we are meant to believe the modern perspective of Marie Antoinette being misunderstood, and exaggerated in terms of self-consumption, the film is too superficial to effect you emotionally. Only briefly do we see Marie express herself beyond stuffing her face with poultry and champagne. But when a film looks as great as this does, are we to care that it lacks depth? Only the GCSE History students need to worry.
Whilst the cast possesses competent performances from its leads, the standout acting belongs to Asia Argento, as a former French Harlot, now the royal plaything of Louis XV (Torn), and Rose Byrne, as the wine guzzling Duchesse de Polignac, socialite and friend of Marie. But even they can't compete with the film's real star  the delicious milieu. Marie Antoinette is a sumptuous delight to look at. Forget the story or the characters  the array of pale-faced aristocrats, in delightful corsets, indulging themselves with cakes, confectionery, meat and wine is done with such irresistible style that it almost makes up for the protracted running time. Marie Antoinette is not exactly food for thought, but dresses itself gorgeously enough to leave you satisfied. And it has a rock soundtrack to boot.