Lush and big-budgeted costumer retells life of title role from Austrian princess to doomed queen

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2015)

Epic on life of famous French queen has Kirsten Dunst in title role but lacks perspective and historical accuracy , though sets & costumes are excellent , being marketed for an adolescent audience . This is a sympathetic biopic of the 18th-century queen of France , retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen , Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) . The queen was a teen then as well as the Dauphin who later becomes Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) . The dauphin was only 16 when he met Marie (who was 15) in the opulent and eccentric court at Versailles . From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen . Marie discovers high society, with the help of Duchesse de Polignac (Rose Byrne) , Comtesse de Noailles (Judy Davis) , her brothers-in-law and her aunts : Victoire (Molly Shannon) and Sophie (Shirley Henderson) . Her foolishness is at its height when she meets a Swedish count, Axel de Fersen (Jamie Dorman) . He helps her see her fecklessness and she matures from a teenage bride to a young woman and eventual a nice queen of France . In the second half of the film, she avoids an annulment, becomes queen and bears children , and ultimately the fall of Versailles .
This is a glamorous as well as opulent film of life of 18th century French queen filled with agreeable drama , luxurious gowns , impressive palaces but lacks good pace and historical events ; as this story is not historically accurate . Based on the award-winning biography Marie Antoinette : The Journey by British author, Lady Antonia Fraser , it tells the story of the most misunderstood and abused woman in history, from her birth in Imperial Austria to her later life in France . Kirnsten Dunst captures essence of title character giving an acceptable acting . She shines in this enjoyable , lavish & sadly neglected film . The movie had thousands of costumes and lavish set designs . Some gowns became extremely heavy due to the embroidery, flounces and precious stones used . This film is really a historical/"pseudo-historical" drama , with the Versailles Court as the back scenery, for all kinds of entertaining intrigues . Spectacular and colorful scenarios , in fact , crew was allowed to film on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles . Evocative and brilliant cinematography by Lance Acord . Plenty of inappropriate modern songs and contemporary musical score . The motion picture efficiently produced by Francis Ford Coppola was middlingly directed by Sophia Coppola .
The film based on historical deeds and adding more happenings , these are the followings : The life of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from betrothal and marriage in 1770 to her getaway from Versailles palace . At first, she's a Hapsburg teenager isolated in France, living a virgin's life in the household of the Dauphin, a shy solitary man who would like to be a locksmith . She then matures and becomes a responsible ruler . Over the next few years, France continues to subsidize the American Revolution by giving funds and troops to the new nation to help fight the British, despite the enormous expense . Food shortages grow more frequent, as do food riots in Paris. Marie Antoinette's image with her subjects has completely deteriorated at this point. Her luxurious lifestyle and apparent callous indifference to the common people result in unflattering and obscene political cartoons in the local newspapers and earn her the title "Madame Déficit" . Later on , the affair of the necklace and the general poverty of France feed revolution ultimately the fall of Versailles . She is condemned to death by beheading but faces death with dignity . The flick also recounting some important facts as when France played a disastrous role in the Seven Years' War, which among other loses , included losing Canadian territory to the much hated British , the French revolution and kings escape until Varennes . In the film appears some historical characters such as Emperor Louis XV (Rip Torn) , Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (Marianne Faithful) : mother of Mary Antoniette and emperor Joseph II of Austria (Danny Huston) and Madame Du Barry (Asia Argento) ; the latter was a wanton, vivacious young woman, catches the eye & the heart of the aging Louis XV and quickly becomes his mistress . After the death of Louis XV in 1774 she retired to a life of luxury in her private château and kept up a schedule of intrigues & dalliances throughout the reign of Louis XVI . With the outbreak of the Revolution, Du Barry escaped to England in 1793 . Foolishly, she returned to France & was arrested on charges of conspiracy against the New Order. Du Barry had her appointment with Madame Guillotine on December 8, 1793 , she was 50 years old.
Other films dealing with this famed queen are the followings : ¨Maria Antoniette¨ (1938) with Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette , Tyrone Power as Count Axel de Fersen , John Barrymore as King Louis XV , Robert Morley as King Louis XVI , Anita Louise as Princesse de Lamballe ; ¨Madame Du Barry¨(1934) by William Dieterle with Dolores del Rio , Reginald Owen and Anita Louise as Marie Antoinette . And ¨Mary Antoniette¨ (1955) by Jean Delannoy with Michele Morgan and Richard Todd.