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Justin Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst |
Dunst doesn’t lose her head
MARIE ANTOINETTE
Directed by Sofia Coppola
Certificate 12A
A FILM about Marie Antoinette should have more style than substance. If this is the case, Sofia Coppola’s bio-pic is everything it needs to be.
Like a 17th-century, moving picture version of Hello or Heat magazine, this witty, sumptious and quirky story about a much-vilified historical figure has a broad appeal.
The amateur historians will enjoy watching a film that draws heavily on biographer Antonia Fraser’s work, while those not inclined towards historical narrative will enjoy the rich pageantry and the underlying current of wholesale debauchery that has made Antoinette’s story reverberate through the ages.
Coppola has some sympathy for her. We track the Queen’s progress from Austria where, as a 14-year-old, she left in order to marry the next King of France, through to her time in the pampered and closeted corridors of Versailles and then on to the violent end of the dynasty.
Marie Antoinette appears to be nothing short of a spoilt teenager. But rather than feel disdain, you begin to feel a degree of sympathy. After all, she was brought to France and cut off from the life she had previously known.
She was used as a pawn in a monarchical game and therefore had virtually no chance to be anything but the spoilt Queen.
It was a pre-determined destiny for her to become a figurehead for all that was wrong with the French monarchy in those heady, revolutionary days of the late 1700s.
Coppola’s direction is excellent, and her cast make the film enjoyable. Kirsten Dunst wears the wigs and fills the dresses well. Throw in some incredible sets and costumes, and it is made easy for the viewer to imagine exactly why the Parisian populace decided it may be an idea to take away their powers and snip off their heads at the same time.
And hidden among the cast are characters who leap out from behind marble busts and oak panelled doors. Steve Coogan, Justin Schwartzman (pictured with Dunst) and even Marianne Faithfull all have fun.
And the musical score has to be mentioned. Using modern music makes her story easy to relate to, and therefore makes this stand out from other historical dramas. |
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