All this French talk makes me pine for Kubricks unmade Napoleon

I think this might end up being many people's problem with the film...she knows exactly what she's going for and I think succeeds brilliantly...unfortunately, for you and many others I'm sure, what she's going for, it seems to me, is NOT Marie Antoinette Biopic. It's a visual representation of the inside of a character's head...and when that character is 200 hundred years dead, obviously no one can know what that inside really looks like. All she can do is make the bare minimum facts right (background, children, spending habits, death) and everything else is strictly Coppola's interpretation. That's how it works for me because I absolutely bought all of this young girls motivations, thoughts and feelings, and the film's style meshes so well with said motivations, thoughts, feelings that it just felt incredibly real and sincere and alive. (I know that whole little explanation sounds weird as fuck, but I can't get out just how the film works for me any clearer...and I could also be high.)

edit -I also think thats why it does so well with so little dialog and why the music is so important. Because the story (besides being very obvious visually) relies entirely on the costumes and sets and colors to bring it alive, and the music was by far the most important part of that process for me...it was almost as though every song or piece of music was written for the sole purpose of making the visuals more clear (be they character's emotions, tensions, or whatever.)

But wasn't that the statement that was trying to be made? That French Aristocracy was living in lala land while the bulk of France was suffering partly because Louis' father spent them into the ground?

I dont know, Didn't love it, didn't hate it. It was just OK.

C+

It was fine for the first hour or so, but then became quite boring. It was technically great, but seemed to lack some substance.

B

B-


It's really a weird case for me. I didn't dislike the film really and I was never bored throughout its 118-minutes running time, yet when I finished the film I asked myself: "What did I just see and what did I learn?". Pretty much nothing actually. The movie is really a stunning eye candy, but it's also a movie with a hollow core. So despite the beautiful shell, it doesnt live up to its potential. Marie Antoinette is the first Sofia Coppola film I have seen and the only one by now, so I can't compare it to her other works, but the direction here seems alright. It was the screenplay that really didn't give the viewer much...or anything at all. It obviously tries to instill the feeling of loneliness and enstrangement of Marie, but that just doesn't work. Kirsten Dunst does a really good, even if not exceptional job with her character, but even she can't overcome the weak screenplay and give her character any real depth. Jason Schwartzman seems as misplaced here as possible. I liked Asia Argento's guest appearance.

Its the technical aspects where the movie flourishes. The art direction is very nice and the use of modern music, while hard to get used to at first, works later in most parts of the film. The costume design is great, that Oscar was certainly well-deserved. The overall design and look of the production was top notch, at times it even seemed overwhelming in all its extravagance. Too bad that the story couldn't keep up with that. There are some really good moments crafted by Coppola here (like the two opera scenes here that stand in great contrats with each other), but over the whole film, there are just not enough, certainly not enough to feel for Antoinette's character in any way or for the movie to elicit any kind of an emotion. As far as period flicks go, you can do worse, but you can also do much much better.

But the point of the film was that her life had no depth or substance. It's like if they made a Paris Hilton biopic and try to give it deep meaning. I guess that's why The Queen was so critically acclaimed that year because it is so safe in creating fabricated substance and false drama out of trivial matters.

No one's life lacks any kind of substance. HJer lifestyle was without substance, but the reason for that was her loneliness, isolation and the fact that she was disliked by most people at the French court. Her life, while seemingly all party and fun, wasn't that great at all and she certainly had her emotional struggles to go through. Obviously, that was not conveyed well in the film with the exception of very few scenes.

I wish Sofia would make another movie already. This was really underappreciated and I hope the nasty, vaguely misogynistic backlash she recieved hasn't scared her off.

Her voice is fresh and unique for Hollywood. We need more of her.

What a horrible movie experience! Paying 8 bucks to watch people party for 2 hours

The ending left such a strong impression on me. I love the fact that in Sofia Coppola's head Siouxsie and the Banshees' Hong Kong Garden is the perfect soundtrack for a masquerade party in pre-Revolutionary Paris.

The movie gets a lot right, but Sofia's soundtrack is absolutely the key to the whole thing.

Remember how awesome that teaser trailer was?

After reflecting more on the film...I don't think Kirsten Dunst was a very good choice for the leading part.

I thought the movie should be a silent when that fantastic teaser first came out.

I like this movie more every time I watch it. My initial reaction to it in this very thread is regrettable.

I'm going to make a thread when we can all cop to dumb shit we'd written long ago. A purging of sorts. It'll be good for the soul.

Nah. I liked it significantly more the second time I saw it (not the fourth or fifth), and a lot of my appreciation for it stemmed from conversations with fellow movie people.

I would win that thread. Automatically.

And this cake is only delicious because of the sugar. Fuck this cake, then.

I respectfully disagree. And the juxtaposition of the music and the period footage is completely thrilling and invigorating.

Yeahm this trailer really grew on me when time went on. But the film still didn't live up to it.

really nice movie. highlight for me was the deportation of the little ape that belonged to the kings mistress.

This is such a gem. My favorite Coppola film. This NEEDS a flippin' Blu-ray release.