Marie Antoinette

Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006) possesses the grace and elegance of those classically constructed historical films, yet injects just enough contemporary details and anachronistic moments that the film never falls into that staid and monotonous atmosphere. This is not to say that historical films can only be interesting if contemporary details are worked into them; rather, that Coppola and this film utilize those elements wonderfully, letting them add to Marie Antoinette's liberating persona.

In hopes of creating an alliance between Austria and France, Marie (Kirsten Dunst) is married off to Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), a young man more generally concerned with hunting foxes and hanging around with his men than with consummating the marriage. Faced with this ridicule and unable to transgress past it, Marie celebrates her status in material things, rewarding herself and her girlfriends with the most prized and decadent of jewelry and clothes. Yet when Louis XV (Rip Torn) passes away, Louis XVI finally must become the king of the nation and sire a son to the throne. Unfortunately, the citizens eventually rise up and send Marie "packing."

To be sure, this film is most engaging when studying the milieu of Marie's world as she is spurned and cast off by those around the throne for being unable to get Louis XVI to consummate the marriage. Coppola beautifully presents a portrait of a young girl isolated from any comfort to call her own as she constantly worries about being cast off herself if she cannot bear the throne a child. The humiliation and hurt that washes over her as another woman bears a child to the throne first is indeed a powerful moment in the film. Moreover, Coppola has several masterstrokes throughout the film, such as insinuating Antoinette's dead third child by having a portrait of her and her three children removed and replaced by an earlier portrait with just two children.

Still, the last thirty minutes of the film do start dragging as Coppola works to bring her narrative to a close, having to rely on history rather than her characters to advance the plot. Yet this whole film is a visual sumptuous delight, delivering some of the most awe-inspiring cinematography since Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, and barring the last quarter of the film, Marie Antoinette is never less than magical.

Marie Antoinette: 8.5/10