A comedy of excess

Rating: 8/10 (26 September 2008)

Marie Antoinette is most famous for her extravagant excess and her tragic demise, but in her biopic of the last French queen Sophia Coppola makes the interesting choice of focusing only on her years at Versailles, a period which spans roughly 15 years, from 15 to 30.
The story is a familiar one to anyone who has ever watched (or read) a female-focused story about a European royal. A rich woman is sold off through marriage to a cold/unkind/unfaithful/un-relatable equally wealthy royal and she spends the rest of the movie tragically flitting around the extravagant scenery, looking ravishing while bemoaning the fact that she can buy everything but her husbands love. What makes Marie Antoinette rather unique in the royal biopic tradition is that Coppola decides to bypass most of the melodrama in order to celebrate the up-beat, witty, teen-queen who charmed France and handled her royal problems with grace and dignity.
I've never been a fan of Kirsten Dunst, but her sunny disposition and little girl looks are perfect here. She is at once graceful and naïve, over-spending but at the same time dutiful and eager to please. Dunst's comic timing in this movie is impeccable. When she is forced to speak to Madame du Barry, she nails the casually bored voice that demonstrates the ridiculousness of the situation and her reluctance to be a part of it. She is also careful to portray Marie Antoinette as innocent and ignorant rather then out and out stupid. In one particularly cute scene the queen declares that she would like to have large trees planted all along a walk-way. When she is reminded that money in the royal coffers is tight, she generously decides to go with the "little trees" rather then spend all that money on the larger ones.
I must admit I was also extremely skeptical when I heard that Coppola had cast her cousin, Jason Schwartzman, as Marie Antoinette's husband but he too handles his (mostly silent) role perfectly. He is the quiet, shy, foil to Dunst's sunny queen, the dweeb to her cheerleader. Coppola plays up the differences between them for comedic effect, and it works well. You can imagine that if Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were average teenagers in modern day France, they wouldn't even talk to each other, and yet because of the age they live in and their political positions they are forced into a bizarre, yet friendly, marriage.
The ensemble is incredibly tight, with cameos by many accomplished actors. Judy Davis steals every scene she's in, Molly Shannon and Shirley Henderson (random side note: Shirley Henderson is hilarious AND brilliant. Someone needs to give her a leading role.) play the two bitchy tantes to perfection, Asia Argento is slimy and seductive as the trashy Madame du Berry, Rose Byrne is sumptuous as the saucy Duchess du Polignac and on and on.
The movie itself works best in its first half. The painfully funny inability of Louis XVI to consummate his marriage provides the plot for the first half of the movie. As Marie Antoinette learns the ridiculous rules of the French court and makes room for her own traditions she is constantly kept grounded by the fact that her husband refuses to bed her and that she has yet to provide any heirs to the throne. Coppola lovingly flits from the church, to the dining hall, to the bedroom giving us a feel for the whirlwind of monotony that becomes Marie Antoinette's life. Like many directors, she is fascinated by the golden cage imprisoning her heroine and yet unlike so many directors she openly invites her audience to laugh at the excesses and childish naïveté of her characters. When Marie Antoinette's brother drops by for a visit he is the one who must explain the act of sex to young Louis by using a key and lock metaphor, hilarious since the only thing Louis seems to show any interest in are locks and keys. Sadly, once the marriage is consummated and the longed for dauphins and dauphines arrive any narrative thread is dropped and the movie instead becomes a series of cobbled together vignettes. Marie Antoinette takes a lover, loses said lover, has some children, and then loses some children. Not that the vignettes are not beautiful and effective, only that the treatment of Antoinette's twenties seems hurried compared to the fun, easy-going pace of her teens.
In one of the touching final scenes of the movie, Louis and Marie Antoinette eat an opulent dinner together as they have done since their first meeting and marriage. As in their first dinner there are many ridiculous rules and protocols to be observed but the difference between that first meal and this one are striking. With most of the royal court forced into exile there is no one but the servants there to observe them. Rather than an orchestra to provide them music to accompany their meal there is the unceasing angry chanting of a mob. But Marie Antoinette, looking at her husband the same way she did at their first meal together, many years ago, reaches across the table in order to hold his hand and provide him with comfort. They know the years of indolence and extravagance which made their teen years a never-ending party are over. And yet, together, they are still willing to stay at Versailles now that the party is over; to try and rule and to face the consequences of their ignorance.
Coppola seems to be taking a bit of a breather between films in order to take care of her new baby but I hope she returns to the camera and soon. I'm not a huge fan of the Virgin Suicides, but her work on Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette show that she's a director with a vision and a message, and I can't wait to see what she does next.