"This Is Ridiculous!" - "This, Madam, Is Versailles!"

Rating: 6/10 (17 November 2012)

I want to say, first, that I'm impressed that this movie is based on a book by Antonia Fraser. Antonia Fraser is a royal historian of great note, so if - and I realize that, as with any movie, that's a very big "IF" - the movie really follows Fraser's work (which I unfortunately haven't read) then we're probably getting a fairly reasonable depiction of Marie Antoinette, and my impression is that, indeed, this is a reasonable taste of her life, up to the point at which Marie and King Louis are removed from Versailles and taken to Paris. The movie ends with their departure from Versailles; there's nothing of Louis' attempt to hold on to the throne by agreeing to become a constitutional monarch, the royal attempt at escape, or their trial and execution.
I rather liked the take on Marie Antoinette that was offered. Kirsten Dunst did very well with the role - she even looks a bit like Marie Antoinette. I really liked her in the role, and I thought she captured Marie's basic identity. I've always thought of Marie Antoinette as a bit of a tragic figure - not callous and uncaring as she's often portrayed (largely because of the belief that, when confronted by the fact that the people were starving because they had no bread, she replied "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" - "let them eat cake" - which there's no solid evidence of her ever having done) but rather simply oblivious to what was happening outside court simply as a result of her pampered upbringing, which wasn't her fault - it was just the reality of her birth and her life. Yes, she was spoiled and pampered and largely cut off from reality by living at court, but I don't think that made her uncaring about what the people were going through - I think it made her oblivious to it because it was so far out of her reality. The movie and Dunst captured that.
The sets and costuming in this were quite well done, and in general the cast was solid. I admit that I was a bit taken aback when I saw that Rip Torn was in this (he plays King Louis XV, Marie's father in law.) Maybe - as Marie was oblivious to the plight of her people - I've been oblivious to what's happening with Rip, because I didn't even know he was still around. But - like everyone else - he was fine. Sophia Coppola directed this and did well with it for the most part. It's certainly not the fastest paced movie you'll ever see, but Coppola managed to keep me interested and she made a brilliant decision by contrasting two scenes at the Paris Opera House that portrayed the rising opposition to Marie among the French people. In the first, she attends the opera and begins to applaud when it's over, which the French royals weren't supposed to do. Taken aback at first, the audience eventually joins in with her applause enthusiastically. Later in the movie, the same scene happens - Marie in the Opera House applauding at the end of the opera - except that this time no one joins her. Instead, people stare at her with disapproval, perhaps even barely disguised contempt. Those two scenes captures the flow of the movie well.
For all that I liked, the one thing that I didn't like - indeed, it irritated me throughout - was the decision to try to give this a modern feel by interspersing various modern elements (especially the repeated use of rock music as a musical score.) It didn't fit and it was little more than distracting for the most part. The movie (for me at least) made the sorry decision to open that way, which put me off right from the start. There's also a pair of high top converse shoes that appears briefly. Supposedly, Coppola used these devices to remind us of the youth of the main character. I just found it unnecessary and out of place. I did - unlike some - like the ending of the movie. It simply depicts Louis and Marie being driven away from Versailles. I didn't need the rest of the history that I mentioned above. The movie was already long enough, and in any event it was about why Marie was so out of touch with the reality of life in 18th century France. It succeeded in that, even if it was a bit slow moving at times, and even with that irritating and out of place music. (6/10)