Forget what you may have heard about this film. Roger Ebert said it best when he wrote, " Every criticism I have read of this film would alter its fragile magic and reduce its romantic and tragic poignancy to the level of an instructional film." I couldn't agree more.
At 14, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES) is taken from Austria and virtually given to France as a payment for peace between the two countries. On the border, before she enters France, she is stripped bare, so that nothing Austrian (accept for her flesh I guess) is allowed to enter the French court. She meets her fiancée Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman, SHOPGIRL) mere hours before their marriage. He can barely look at her, let alone drum up the nerve to play his part in Marie's purpose to bring an heir to the French court at Versailles. She is all but a prisoner in the huge royal estate, where her every action is criticized and every move is governed by excessive and demeaning ritual. Robbed of everything she knew as well as her childhood, she has no voice of her own, only duty. Trapped in a ridiculous world, she can only find release in partying, because it's all that is tolerated. Eventually, she loses herself in excess to ease her pain.
Trying to guide the naïve girl through the shark-infested waters of French politics is the Austrian ambassador Mercy (Steve Coogan, TRISTRAM SHANDY). Her mother Maria Teresa (Marianne Faithfull, 1969's HAMLET) is constantly putting the blame for non-pregnant state on her. Hypocrisy abounds in the court. The king Louis XV (Rip Torn, MEN IN BLACK) is never unseen with his garish mistress Comtesse du Barry (Asia Argento, LAND OF THE DEAD). Everyone looks down at du Barry, but Marie is forced to acknowledge her just to save face. Their only interaction is a marvelous example of pointless political protocol. It takes a "birds and bees" pep talk by Marie's brother Joseph (Danny Huston, THE CONSTANT GARDENER) to get Louis XVI to understand how keys fit into locks.
Director Sophia Coppola (LOST IN TRANSLATION) crafts a tale that is both of then and now. Sets and costumes are done to the period. However, Coppola counters the period details with lively '80s pop music. It's a brilliant stroke, giving the audience contemporary cues to make us remember just how young Marie was. She has become a symbol of royal excess, but this film presents her in a different light. She is both a product and a victim of the lavish, insular world that she was placed into. She wants to go to Paris and see the city. She wants to wear plain clothes and work in the dirt. But she is unable to do so freely. Her life is not her own.
I was so reminded of young Hollywood starlets who are pimped to society as sex symbols and encouraged to revel in excess, but are both idolized and loathed for it at the same time. The excessive and closed off world they live in fuels their behavior and gives them few options to do anything else. Louis XVI is the next king, but is he educated in how to rule? No, his grandfather Louis XV is more interested in frolicking with his young prostitute, who is easily discarded when his final duty calls. Watch as Marie and Louis XVI eat dinner as the angry mob rages outside. What's missing from the picture? Society lifts up its celebrities and makes them symbols of the luxurious life, but when the angry mob shows up who loses their heads? Copolla chooses not to end the film with Marie in the guillotine, finding the right poetic moment for her sad and tragic version of Marie Antoinette's story.
Does the film capture the full extent of the historical events that were going on at the time? No, because its only from Marie's point of view. A woman who was hidden from the real world and only given cake to eat and pretty gowns to wear. Copolla dares to tell a more balanced version of Marie's life. She even has Marie deny even saying her infamous line — Let them eat cake — as stupid rumor. It makes us think whether every silly story about every silly starlet is true. Once you reach a certain status, legend takes over and the truth is blurred. It doesn't matter what you really said or what you really did — it only matters whether the story fits the perception that society has formed.
Copolla was lambasted at the Cannes Film Festival for portraying Marie Antoinette positively. That's like portraying Britney Spears in a natural light currently in the U.S. How dare you, America, would say! She should loose her head. Copolla presents Marie Antoinette as responsible for the woes of France as Spears is responsible for the problems in the U.S. today. They are celebrities who live in ivory towers who are controlled by outside forces. They are loved when they are pretty and doing what they were groomed to do, but are hated for saying stupid things (education was never important in their grooming) and drowning themselves in the privilege their society has bestowed on them. It reminds me of a great quote from Carrie Fisher, who was raised in the world of celebrity in Hollywood, she said, "I was street smart, but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive."
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
