A good period piece that is sometimes style over substance

Rating: 6/10 (18 March 2019)

"Marie Antoinette" is a co-production between USA, France and Japan that is mostly in the English language and was released back in 2006, so this one will soon have its 15th anniversary. What made me most curious about this film here probably is that it was written and directed by Sofia Coppola and was the first full feature film she made after "Lost in Translation", a contender for my number one favorite film of all time. But we shall talk about that one on another occasion, so now let's look at these slightly over two hours we have here, fairly long for a period piece. You can read the name of the main character in the title here and she is played by Kirsten Dunst, who was really a big thing back then, not so much anymore today, but yeah I think she is an okay actress and also fairly attractive taking into account that I usually don't like blondes that much, but overall I can see why she was cast here, even if Scarlett Johansson could have been interesting too. The rest of the cast includes more than just a few big names. It was sure unusual, but interesting and fun at the same time to see some of these play influential members of the Royal French Court, such as Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Rose Byrne, Tom Hardy (yep!), Dannny Huston, Mary Nighy (Bill's daughter) and Jamie Dornan. And I sure did not expect Steve Coogan and Molly Shannon in here. But everybody played their parts pretty well, even if some of them really don't have a lot of screen time at all. Huston for example only has one scene. The film starts with the main character moving from Austria to France in order to marry the heir to the throne. There is no charming love story that brought them together, but it was an imperial decision made by others. Still they seem fairly fond of each other. This is never a movie about unrequited or unhappy love by any means. Even when Marie Antoinette has an affair with a Swedish count on one occasion, it is never really causing any problems as some may know about it, but it does not result in a scandal. Still I was curious if her second child, actually the new heir to the throne, was fathered by the Swede. But keeping up the royal status was not exactly a relevant subject anyway with what was happening towards the end when everybody had to leave the castle and eventually also King and Queen. Oh I forgot to mention Schwartzman, how could I as he probably plays the male key character in the film, perhaps because his character is really the most stoic presence in the film and not really one that required great acting, just composition. By the way, Schwartzman is Coppola's cousin.
This film went 1 for 1 at the Academy Awards taking home the Best Costume Oscar and I am not surprised. For Canonero, it was the third of so far four Oscars. I am rather surprised this one here did not manage any other nominations as it seems like an obvious choice for set decorations, maybe soundtrack too. And a nomination for Dunst was also not highly unlikely I assume because she really was in every scene of the film and had also great baity material like when she really struggles with the prince's lack of interest in her or let's say that he is too scared to show his interest as it is obviously there as we find out quickly. Then there is the cheating, then there is the struggle with the people and of course also that she originates from a place that is completely different compared to where she ends up in France. Her crying for her pug says it all. There are more scenes like that. She is more like a girl really. On one occasion, there is talk about a political conflict and all she wonders about is her dress. At least they make sure she never really made that cake comment. There are many films about Marie Antoinette, but probably this is the most known one. And there is certainly no other as packed with pink, sweet and pompous dresses as this one we have here. Coppola also made some really interesting musical choices. Period pieces are normally films where you just have a soundtrack of classical music involving no singing and certainly not as much really loud pop music as she used here. I think it fit and that was quite an achievement. My favorite is probably "Fools Rush In" (NOT by Lil Bow Wow) followed by "I Want Candy". By the way, I was literally feeling my kilograms increase while only watching all the sweets and delicacies shown in here. Okay, let me think what else can I say about the film. The last scene inside the carriage was good as well with his question about the lemon trees and her answer that she is bidding farewell. Great moment to have the credits roll in. We find out a lot about life at the court and honestly, like with some other Coppola (daughter Coppola) films, you can certainly say that there is not really that much happening here admittedly. At least not constant action and scheming or so like in many other old period pieces focusing on female characters at the very center of it. It is not a film designed to make audiences laugh on too many occasions, even if there is a moment here and there. It is also not much of a drama I would say, even if obviously there are many dramatic moments. This absence of genres can be explained through the lack of a constantly developing plot. Most of the time, it is more about depicting the state of things, except the ending of course that goes strongly against everything before that. It is a historical costume movie, maybe the best way to describe it. It wasn't a great or outstanding watch and I'd put it nowhere near my favorites from 2006, but still an okay little movie. Probably girls will generally enjoy this one more than boys. No hesitation for me in giving this one a thumbs-up. Go watch it and if you like both the genre and Kirsten Dunst, then it is close to a must-see I suppose.