This film is what it is....

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2010)

I just happened to catch this version of "Marie Antointette," made in 2006, on the Sundance Channel one evening. Being a fan of Sofia Coppola ("Virgin Suicides" "Lost in Translation") I got engrossed in it. Kirsten Dunst plays the ill-fated queen, and she seems to look the part both in age and femininity. The period costumes are great, and Dunst wears them well, along with the occasional outrageous hairstyles. That is about as far as it goes: Dunst's performance is completely lacking in any substance, and I did not believe I was viewing a queen from another century, just a modern-day actress playing make believe. Everyone knows the basic story: teen-ager Marie marries Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman, an odd casting choice). Louis seems to have little interest in Marie sexually -- today we would likely say he is gay, but probably at that time he was just considered socially awkward, although he does seem to cavort with a lot of pretty male friends. Anyway, they do eventually manage to have kids. Marie seems to find an outlet from her somewhat cold and distant husband in an odd assortment of friends, all as materialistic as she. She also has an affair, etc. In looking at this film, the obvious comparison to the 1938 version of "Marie Antoinette" with Norma Shearer and Robert Morley has to be made. While certainly the older film is superior in many ways -- although one has to consider its historical accuracy not 100%, but better than this one. And while Shearer was certainly a superior actress to Dunst, she was also way too old for the part. The original film also dragged out the imprisonment and death of Marie Antointette way too long; this one just shows Marie -- who sticks by her husband all the way through the overthrow -- riding off to face certain death. Mercifully, we are spared the gory details. This film is what it is: a showpiece for great costumes, breath-taking scenery, and a soundtrack that is clearly aimed at the under-30 crowd. I liked it, but I didn't take it seriously.