Versailles Cake-walk

Rating: 4/10 (22 November 2007)

Sophia Coppola is clearly a disciple of the Baz Lurhman school of Sloppy Film-making in which the main purpose is to reinvent an actual historical period complete with real characters, some of whom have entered the history/reference books and impose upon it a juvenile ego which is blithely indifferent to facts and marches to the beat of a different drummer, preferably one immersed in Rock. Add a touch of nepotism - male lead Jason Schwartzman is her cousin - and in terms of self-centered insularity Coppola has hit one out of the park. There are some nice visuals but even those have a touch of fakery inasmuch as the existing furniture at Versailles was replaced with Set Designer Blue Plate Special so the best we can say is if you have absolutely no interest in French Culture/History and find nothing wrong with 21st century pop music informing 18th century France then chances are you'll have a ball.