Synopsis

Betrothed to King Louis XVI at the age of 14, the naïve Marie Antoinette is taken from her family in Vienna and thrown into the opulent French court which is steeped in conspiracy and scandal. Alone, without guidance, and adrift in a dangerous world, the young Marie Antoinette rebels against the isolated atmosphere at Versailles and, in the process, becomes France's most misunderstood monarch. Beneath her finery, she's a sheltered, frightened and confused young woman, surrounded by vicious detractors, insincere flatterers, puppet masters and gossips. Trapped by the conventions of her station in life, Marie Antoinette must find a way to fit into the complex and treacherous world of Versailles. Adding to her woes is the indifference of her new husband, Louis. Their marriage goes unconsummated for an astonishing seven years. The awkward future king proves to be a disaster as a lover, sparking grave concerns that Marie Antoinette will never produce an heir. Overwhelmed and distraught, she seeks refuge in the decadence of the French aristocracy and in a secret ove affair with the alluring Swedish Count Fersen. Her indiscretions are soon the talk of France. Eventually her reign will be cut short by a bloody revolution that alters France forever.

What The Critics Say

"What won me over were the sumptuous sets, gorgeous costumes and inviting use of rich colors. I think most people will be bored silly by it, but I rather enjoyed it." Steve Rhodes INTERNET REVIEWS "One of the most vapid and unentertaining stories I've had the displeasure of seeing this year." Diana Saenger REVIEWEXPRESS.COM "The film looks and sounds absolutely splendid, but the story ultimately drags somewhat." JoBlo JOBLO'S MOVIE EMPORIUM 'It’s very pretty and occasionally amusing but also dreadfully dull for long, long stretches." Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER "The queen may keep her head here, but this Marie is pretty brainless." Matt Stevens E! ONLINE "I wasn't moved at all. I think this is a surprisingly superficial film about Marie Antoinette. In fact, when I came out of the screening in Cannes, I dubbed it MEAN GIRLS TO GO VERSAILLES." David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES

"If Sofia Coppola isn't the queen of slow, she's the princess of bore. Despite its sumptuous production design and cinematography, this is grotesquely superficial, slow, and boring." Tony Medley TONYMEDLEY.COM "Dunst plays Marie Antoinette as if she's seen the future and it's Paris Hilton." Jack Mathews NEW YORK DAILY NEWS "Marie Antoinette never gets to the part where her head gets lopped off, it would sure perk things up." Chris Hewitt ST PAUL PIONEER PRESS "Yes, it's a very pretty picture, but this movie could have been so much more." Pam Grady REEL.cOM "Marie Antoinette, which was shot at Versailles, looks absolutely sumptuous, but is, ultimately as substantial as a bonbon." Joanne Kaufman WALL SREET JOURNAL "Coppola’s script is comic-book silly ('We’re too young to reign'), and she has studded the movie with miscast talent." Ella Taylor L.A. WEEKLY

The Inside Story "I am sure that, just as they did with "I Love Huckabee" and "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", there will, no doubt, be some cinemagoers who will thoroughly enjoy acclaimed, writer, producer and director Sophia Carmina Coppola's latest big screen offering, "Marie Antoinette". Sadly they will be in a rather small minority for the only way to describe her interpretation of this real life tale is, woeful. Academy ® Award and Golden Globe winning screenwriter Sophia, the daughter of legendary Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola ("Apocalypse Now", "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "The Rainmaker"), who made her own mark on Hollywood with 1999's "The Virgin Suicides" and more recently with the 2003's critically acclaimed "Lost In Translation", says when it came to "Marie Antoinette" she opted for a popular culture version. "Everything we did is based on research about the period, but it’s all seen in a contemporary way," says Coppola. "My biggest fear was making a ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ kind of movie. I didn’t want to make a dry, historical period movie with the distant, cold tableau of shots. It was very important to me to tell the story in my own way. In the same way as I wanted "Lost In Translation" to feel like you had just spent a couple of hours in Tokyo, I wanted this film to let the audience feel what it might be like to be in Versailles during that time and to really get lost in that world." The true story of Marie Antoinette’s misunderstood life came to widespread attention in 2002 with the publication of Antonia Fraser’s highly readable, meticulously researched biography 'Marie Antoinette: The Journey'. Fraser painted a picture not of an imperious Queen oblivious to suffering but rather of a fanciful, lively teenager who was warm and empathic by nature, yet unprepared for the demands of her highly visible life in the French royal court of Versailles and the intrigues of political power. The irony was that, despite being surrounded by thousands of onlookers and attendants, Marie Antoinette felt utterly secluded and alone. A young girl trapped in a fantasy world that left her precious little freedom. In fact, at the time of her arranged marriage, Marie was just fourteen years old. Fraser revealed a Marie Antoinette who was vibrantly youthful and strikingly contemporary in her struggles with loneliness, gossip, desire, love and coming of age; except that the consequences of her journey unfolded on an enormous historical stage. "I had heard the usual clichés about Marie Antoinette and her decadent lifestyle," comments Coppola. "But I had never realized before how young she and Louis XVI really were. They were basically teenagers in charge of running France during a very volatile period and from within an incredibly extravagant setting, the royal court of Versailles. That’s what first interested me: The idea that these young kids were placed in that position and trying to find out what they went through trying to grow up in such an extreme situation." "I became interested in the things Marie Antoinette went through that were relatable on a human level," says Coppola. "She was basically regarded as an outsider in France and had to deal with in-laws who didn't approve of her, a husband who wasn't interested in her and this entire court, which was highly critical of her. She was like the new kid in school; but in a very alien environment. I could imagine her going off to her private room with her friends to escape the severe rules of court etiquette. I began to imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. Throughout history she’s been portrayed as a villain, but as I read about her, the more she seemed quite sweet, a little naïve or sheltered, but mostly a good-hearted, creative person who was unaware of the world outside of Versailles." Coppola says she focused on an iconoclastic approach, not only in the story, but in its presentation, involving a distinctly modern, graphic style, hoping to turn a historical subject into one that was more immediate, emotional and visceral. "The idea was to capture in the design the way in which I imagined the essence of Marie Antoinette’s spirit," she explained. "So the film’s candy colors, its atmosphere and the teenaged music all reflect and are meant to evoke how I saw that world from Marie Antoinette’s perspective. She was in a total silk and cake world. It was a complete bubble right up until the very end." Historical biographer Antonia Fraser was both surprised and pleased by the director’s singular approach toward shattering the myths surrounding Marie Antoinette. "I was very attracted by Sofia’s enthusiasm," says Fraser. "We come from very different angles but she had her own vision of Marie Antoinette and a wonderful intensity. Sofia understood that the things that happened to Marie Antoinette were absolutely extraordinary," says Fraser. "First, she was essentially sold into slavery to become a French princess. Then she was supposed to support Austria at the age of 14. Then she’s got into this weird, unconsummated marriage but was supposed to produce a child. Sofia shows very sympathetically how Marie Antoinette tried to cope with this remarkable situation. All the shopping, extravagance and decadence were a reaction to all of the terrible things that happened to her yet were not of her making. I liked that approach very much." When it came to playing Marie Antoinette, Coppola could only envision one actress in the lead role: Kirsten Dunst. "In everything I read about Marie Antoinette, I pictured Kirsten. She has that same quality of being a bubbly, full-of-life blonde who has a lot more going on than people assume. Kirsten also had that same playful, creative spirit that I sensed in Marie Antoinette. She has that certain mix of charm and depth," notes Coppola, "and, being part German, she also has the perfect skin and look for the role. I knew Kirsten could bring Marie Antoinette to life, as I had imagined her." Biographer Antonia Fraser agrees. "When I saw her in person, I thought she was a perfect physical match." Fraser also notes of Dunst: "She especially has that gracefulness for which Marie Antoinette was so renowned." Dunst, who made her big screen debut in Woody Allen's "New York Stories" and worked with Coppola in the director’s acclaimed debut "The Virgin Suicides", says she could relate to the Queen of France. Why? "Because I started acting when I was 11 and since then, I’ve been constantly surrounded by adults, constantly surrounded by people I’m trying to please. That’s why I really understood the situation Marie Antoinette was in; leaving her home and coming to this place where there were all these expectations and all these judgments about her." Dunst is familiar with the 'teen' genre having appeared in "Crazy/Beautiful", "Bring It On" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" doesn't see the film as a history piece. "This isn’t a history piece so much as it is the story of a girl who was very human, very real and is very understandable to us today," she explained. "People don’t really act the way you often see them in period films, and Sofia wanted something much more natural, without accents." A major draw for Dunst was the chance to work once again with Coppola. "Sofia’s almost like an older sister to me, in a way," she remarked. "“What’s nice is that we didn’t ever really have to over-analyze the scenes or talk about them too much because I pretty much know what she wants most of the time. I look up to her and I admire her but she also makes me feel really confident in what I’m doing. I also especially like working with a woman director. It was always a very open and relaxed atmosphere." Playing opposite Dunst as Louis XVI is Jason Schwartzman who many will remember for his recent role as the somewhat whacky Jeremy Kraft in Steve Martin's, "Shopgirl". Schwartzman put on more than eighteen kilo's to portray the famously chubby monarch. He liked the intrepidly modern approach Coppola took. "I liked the idea of giving these historical figures some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and helping to bring Louis XVI fully to life," he said. One factwe are aware of is that Louis XVI couldn't get it up for the gorgeous teenage Marie Antoinette. In fact it was a seven year drought when it came to finally doing 'the deed'. "I think Louis had performance anxiety," he observes, "on a huge level. It must have been tough to be so young and on the cusp of so much power with all these people looking at you and wanting things from you, and at the same time you still feel really awkward and uncomfortable in your own skin. If you take two people in this predicament and throw them into a bedroom situation, all kinds of inappropriate feelings are going to come up." While Louis and Marie are the centrepieces in the film, there are many colorful characters in Coppola's film. "Our cast is definitely eccentric," Coppola admits. "We have Rip Torn, a Texan King of France, Asia Argento, an Italian Madame Du Barry and Judy Davis, an Australian Comtesse De Noailles, so it’s a very mixed group, which seemed right because it was a very eccentric and decadent time and the cast really gives it that flavor of extremism. I loved watching these actors imagine those characters." The Verdict "I've finally found a film worse than "In The Cut" and that's saying something. You really have to ask yourself, "what the hell was Sofia Coppola thinking. Oh me, oh my! This is dreadful. Sure it has some good points. The setting is sumptuois. The costumes are beautiful. It's so colorful. But hang on, a film about the most famous woman in France and all you get is lack lustre performances, long dull and boring periods in a period piece and then there's those gud awful accents led by Rose Byrne. Have I mention Judy Davis. Judy, Judy, Judy! Why did you do it? Sack your agent or give it away if this is all you have to offer your fans. I'm sure that there will be some cinemagoers who will find this 'adorable', but they will be in the minority. Off with their heads! 2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "MARIE ANTOINETTE" stars .......
Kirsten Dunst ["The Cat's Meow", "Spider-man I, II & III", "Mona Lisa Smile", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Wimbledon"]; Jason Schwartzman ["Rushmore", "S1m0ne" and "Shopgirl"]; Judy Davis ["The Man Who Sued God", "Swimming Upstream" and "The Break-Up"]; Rose Byrne ["The Night We Called It a Day", "The Rage in Placid Lake" and "Wicker Park"]; Marianne Faithfull ["Girl on a Motorcycle", "Shopping" and "Intimacy"]; Molly Shannon ["Shallow Hal", "American Splendor", "Good Boy!" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"] and Rip Torn ["Men In Black I & II", "Eulogy", "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" and "Yours, Mine and Ours"] as Louis XV.
"MARIE ANTOINETTE" was .......
directed by Boston Society of Film Critics & Writers Guild of America Award winner Sofia Coppola ["The Virgin Suicides" and "Lost in Translation"]; screenplay by Sofia Coppola ["The Virgin Suicides" and "Lost in Translation"]; film edited by Sarah Flack ["The Limey", "Full Frontal", "Swim Fan" and "Lost in Translation"]; director of photography Lance Acord ["Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation" and "Lost in Translation"]; original music by Lance Acord ["" and ""] production by K K Barrett ["Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation" and "Lost in Translation"] and costume design by Milena Canonero ["A Clockwork Orange", "Midnight Express", "Chariots of Fire", "Out Of Africa", "The Affair of the Necklace" and "Ocean's Twelve"]. Run Time 123 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Columbia Pictures - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved