Hollow sweetness

Rating: 5/10 (1 November 2006)

Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" is, to some extent, the equivalent of having a plateful of fancy cake for the entrée. It's delectable up to a point, and then it's gastronomically exhausting and you're left craving for the real meal following an induced sugar rush.
Based from Antonia Fraser's biographical account of the French Queen, the film follows Austrian princess Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), who at 14 is sent to France to marry the dauphin Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). Detached from those around her and confused by her situation, Marie soon is thrust into a world of scandals, including one with King Louis XV's (Rip Torn) mistress, Madame du Barry (Asia Argento). Upon the king's death, her husband ascends to the throne and she soon goes on a shopping spree, subsequently becoming France's leading fashion icon, while the rest of the country is left to complain of this royal overindulgence. And rumors just grow more rampant. Like why she and King Louis XVI can't have a child, and her alleged affair with Count Axel von Fersen (Jamie Dornan).
"Marie Antoinette" works well as a visual feast as it employs authentic subset of the Versailles environment fortified by the deluxe production design and glazed cinematography. Another intriguing aspect of the movie is its anachronistic soundtrack that blends 80s New Wave with Baroque music. It's a far-out approach to a period piece that might have turned off a whole lot and could have played a major part for the boos.
Still the non-conformist style of film-making works as the film plays out as less than a history lesson or a social commentary than a testament of the director's apparent attraction to confused female characters thrown into isolation. The main problem of this film, though, is that ironically, while Coppola tries so hard to put the main character in a subjective light, the exposition leaves much to be desired emotionally. After the first hour, the movie drags and becomes hasty with less historical discourse. Ultimately, the film becomes anticlimactic.
Nevertheless, Dunst perfectly captures both her title character's inanity and restraint. Likewise, Schwartzman achieves in providing an introverted awkwardness to the inert King Louis XVI. And in a cast dominated by underused characters, few barely stand out, like Argento, Torn, and Steve Coogan as th Austrian diplomat Count Mercy d'Argenteau.
"Marie Antoinette" had the potentials of a great film if the main character had just been fully realized underneath the sweetness of it all. An occasional cake indulgence sounds good but too much of it just isn't enough.