Loved it! But don't look for a lot of depth...

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2006)

I love French history. I've been to Versailles, and I have tried to imagine what it must have been like to be Marie Antoinette, living in her Petit Trianon and her little hamlet....what kind of person would need to create such a world for herself? What could she have been thinking? I didn't admire her, but I have always been curious as to how she could be so obtuse, and, along with her husband, so blind and politically inept.
What I have always come up with kind of meshes with the portrayal in this movie: she married young and naive, then, isolated in her luxurious bubble, progressively lost touch with her people and responsibilities. Not everyone cares about those type of questions, but clearly some of us do. I found it a fascinating character study.
Also, I really appreciated the fact that this was a woman's movie. It shows perfectly the loneliness and feelings of defeat Marie Antoinette must have felt in a new country, unable to fulfill her husband's family's expectations by producing an heir. It shows her completely devastated by her first real sexual passion, and enraptured by motherhood. Her friendship with the King seemed true to life, born out of their shared isolation and the shared burden of royal responsibilities. She seemed vulnerable and real, despite the her extraordinary circumstances, and I thought Kirsten Dunst did a fine job (though she was far to pretty and too skinny to be Marie Antoinette--but I forgive them that!).
Don't get me wrong. I don't think this is a true to life portrayal. The best part of the movie was the visuals. The parties, food, the beautiful people....I loved the the way becoming a Queen (and gaining some autonomy) allowed her to grow to be a new person. She became a decadent libertine, falling in love, indulging in food and drink and dress. Anyone who has ever visited France and seen those gilded interiors has wondered what it was like to properly enjoy them. Watch this movie--see these parties--now you know!
I watched this movie with two other women/girls (we are in our late 20's), and it was the perfect girly fix. It made us all want to get all be-ribboned, curl and tease our hair, and giggle about how cute Count von Fersen was while eating bon bons. If that is what you are hoping to get out of this movie, you will not be disappointed--like us!