Spectacular Spectacular

Rating: 9/10 (18 February 2007)

This gorgeous, thoughtful, weird, smart, almost zanily filmic film is no mere homage to Baz Luhrmann but a direct confident, gutsy expressionist masterpiece. Luscious, detailed, idiosyncratic coloration that really worked. Incredible casting. Couldn't imagine Jason S. could play Louis XVI but he was great, and so was Kirsten Dunst, and everyone else. (Not much technical acting expertise required, however. Seems like this area remains an unknown for Coppola).
Coppola had her actors perform naturalistically -- shades of Method umm's, and ahhs -- while bombarding them and us with deliberately heightened visuals (tropicana satins/diamonds/wiggery/palatial splendor) as they are puppeted through the suffocating rituals of court and history. Result: the vaunted "conjunctio oppositorum," conjunction of opposites creating a unified artistic whole.
Daring. Entertaining. Enlightening.
One could not ask for more.