Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette

Last weekend I saw the latest Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette. This is one of the freshest, most innovative and original films to be released last year. I was surprised that it didn't receive more buzz. Perhaps this is because it is set in the 18th century and covers the life of a French monarch.

I won't summarize the film in this entry. I just want to take issue with a review submitted by critics of the A.V. Onion club. I love the A.V. onion club. I visit their site most everyday, and find their reviews spot-on and insightful. So, I was shocked to learn that my beloved club gave Marie Antoinette a "C."

Check out their review: http://www.avclub.com/content/node/54274


I completely disagree with their assessment of this film. While the reviewers call the movie "daring" and Coppola "inventive", the film is ultimately dismissed for being superficial and "checking off" history's highlights through a hurried and ineffective plot.

I don't think this film, and I wouldn't necessarily call it a history or a period piece, is interested in presenting the historical events of the French Revolution or Marie Antoinette's role in the politics of that era. Granted, it is somewhat of a revisionist look at this personality, but overall it is not a film whose mission is to tell a historical story. That story has been told, again and again in film and literature. Furthermore, Coppola, by presenting the interior lives of the monarchy, essentially locks the viewer inside the walls of the Versailles along with them. They, and we, the audience, are not aware of the political situation boiling outside of those walls until it is way too late.

Instead, Coppola gives us a fresh look at monarchy and the people who enter and become trapped in that political system. Coppola's mission is to couple youth with decadence, using this particular French monarchy as her backdrop. Marie Antoinette was only 14 when she moved from Austria to France to assume the throne. Her husband, Louis the XVI, was only 20 when he became king after his father's death. Employing young actors, using the youthful music of the 1980's, showing scenes of champagne drinking, pastry eating, and costumes of opulence all help illustrate Coppola's themes and objectives. The scene with all of the desserts and shoes to the tune of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" solidifies the film's purpose, and its so fun to watch.

The whole point is that these characters, these historical figures, are young - too young to reign, as the newly appointed king says. And they are caught in a monarchical system where the only thing they have to do is spend money and indulge their senses.

While Lost in Translation was an excellent film, I will go out on a limb to say that Marie Antoinette is bolder, and more original than Coppola's most acclaimed film. It was one of the best films of 2006. Can't wait to see what she does next.