Hypnotic, in a very bad way.

Rating: 1/10 (20 December 2007)

To begin with, I've never been impressed with Coppola. Lost in Transition bored the hell out of me. But this one was so bad I actually watched it to the stupefying end.
I've just been reading several books about Marie Antoinette but couldn't find anything in the picture that comes close to Marie. She loved gambling, spending money, having a great time and flirting with Fersen, with whom she may or may not have been lovers with. She was apparently clueless as to what people may deduce about her closeness with her female friends. I doubt she was a lesbian but her relationship with Polignac certainly sent out alarms of the worst kind. No mention in the film of the scabrous and vile pamphlets printed about her and her friends.
She did love her children; she did (in her own way) act concerned about the plight of the people (which didn't stop her from spending).
She was devoted to her husband, even as he grew bigger and bigger in girth. There is a real story here of missed opportunities, anger growing by the poor over lack of bread and watching the elite have everything. The Revolution is completely lacking here. The Fall of the Bastille was a momentous event but you couldn't tell from here.
Marie rose at the end when their lives as they knew it were over. She died with dignity, as did Louis.
Read the biography by Antonia Fraser and other books about her. But skip this movie. Coppola should never be allowed to make a movie again. And I should never be weak enough to watch one of her movies should she be allowed to make one.
And poor Gluck's music was left out. Whatever she was, Marie understood and loved great music and was a champion of Gluck, especially at the premiere of Iphigenie en Tauride which the audience didn't get and Marie stood up and applauded forcing the audience to do the same.