a misunderstood and wonderful film, notable for far more than its gorgeous imagery

Rating: 9/10 (18 February 2007)

I think this movie has been sadly misunderstood by many. The story here is told through understatement and silences, much like lost in translation, and those who need the action to be explained through dialog will not enjoy this. Although it is simply a gorgeous movie, this is not the only reason to watch. Another criticism is historical inaccuracy. Although the film is an adaptation of a recent biography of M-A, offering a different take on her character, the real point is the way Coppola uses contemporary pop culture to produce a certain kind of subjective feel. When she shows a dance party she plays New Order which gives a contemporary audience the wild feeling of a dance party that no amount of cinematographic cleverness could convey if the music were accurate period. She uses American style speech to keep us within the characters and focusing on their human qualities. The movie does not focus on politics, nor on the realities outside the palace, and this is not its point. It is a portrait of a foreign teenage girl thrown into the center of one of the most powerful courts in the world, and it is told from her perspective, with all of the inaccuracies and misunderstandings that would naturally produce.Towards the end the pacing does seem to drag oddly, given the mastery of the first 1.5 hours...and there were some gaps in terms of other characters that could have been more developed (especially her friends in the court)...but overall this is a wonderful film, far better than how it was received. M-A is a real, complex, and sympathetic character, trapped in a world that she does not truly fit. Even her famous extravagances make sense here as her only outlet for expression.