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Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2007)

There are several examples of the undeserved critical response to MARIE ANTOINETTE that concern Sofia Coppola's use of contemporary music and the film's historical obligations to OUR expectations. The 80's soundtrack captures quite well the spirit of teenage oblivion as so genuinely portrayed by Kirsten Dunst. That reviewers expect the character of Marie Antoinette to understand its place in history exposes a larger form of historical misunderstanding.
When Ms. Coppola's film doesn't satisfy a modern understanding, based on misperception, is it the fault of the filmmaker or the reviewer? It's as if characters are to act like adults when in fact they are not. It may also be likely that Coppola has given the viewer a more complex vision of a famous historical period. It is the story of the seduction of opulence, the oblivion to the realities outside Versailles and the vitiated wealth of kings that form the core of this film.