My first reaction after watching Marie Antoinette ... shallow, empty, and annoying. There is little plot or character development. Scenes are meshed together like an extended music video. The music is redundant and inappropriate (we will come back to it later). Obviously intended for the MTV audience, Marie-Atoinette really tried my patience.
However, I can argue that Sofia Coppola was right on the money with that. Marie-Antoinette is most likely to be a 18th century rich party-girl, with all the fixings and cake. Her life was likely to revolve around gossips, shopping, and keeping the royal bloodline. Her life prior to the Revolution was likely to be shielded from the rest of France. On those points, I think the film hits the spot.
On top of that, Kirsten Dunst was suited for the role. The lack of dialogue (again, probably true in those days, not much dialogue aside from gossip and the superficial) was made up for with her expressions. The character may appear shallow, Dunst captured every emotional nuance without uttering a word.
But in the mean time, Coppola somehow didn't think that the audience would catch that. So she made the most annoying decision. She used "modern" music to express M-A's inner thoughts. The film was already very fine without music at all. The introduction of the music made it simply unbearable to watch. This approach was somewhat successful in Knight's Tale (remember the medieval "We will Rock You"?) because the Ledger/Battney duo were never meant to be taken seriously. Marie-Antoinette was branded as serious drama, and was treated so. The idea just backfired.
Finally, after watching Godfather III, I had a feeling that Sofia Coppola was playing herself. Afterall, she accepted the role in very short notice. Without committing libel, I believe this film about Marie Antoinette is a reflection of her personality. I just hope that Sofia didn't have the Strokes playing in her head when she was with Spike Jonze.
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