To think of Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette as a historically accurate period piece reflecting the life and times of the famed last queen of France, is as much of a mistake as believing Edward Wood Jr.’s Plan 9 From Outer Space is a flawless masterpiece. Still the acceptance of Marie Antoinette as something other than a historical period piece does not dismiss the fact that the film is a teenybopper film more suitable for mall going tweens, than the average adult movie audience. It is not a film of universal appeal as one might be lead to believe, instead Sofia Coppola has made a film about an old world Paris Hilton who seems to care more about her reputation, shopping, and money, than the position of power she has been born into. In fact, based on this film, one would half expect a homemade sex painting of Marie Antoinette copulating with the young soldier with whom she had an affair to surface and spreads around the countries newspapers. Mrs. Coppola may have set out to make a film about consumerism in the (old and current) world, only set in 18th century France, yet has focused too much on the aspects of teenage girls.
The decision to intertwine historically accurate period music, with modern pop and puck rock is one that not only deters one from the narrative of the film but also feels like an overindulgence itself. When Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” burst through the speakers, Sofia Coppola has simply taken it too far, placing more importance on the beat of the pop music, than the actual message she is trying to convey; simply because a song has a line like “I want candy,” and there is candy on screen, does not make it and appropriate correlation. Also, her choice to covertly slip in a pair of purple converse during a scene all about shoes could be conceived as a clever trick to remind the audience that the theme of this movie can apply to today as much as back then. However, with British one-hit-wonders of Bow Wow Wow, and Gang of Four begin to blast through the speakers, it is like Sofia Coppola trying to thrust her intention down my throat; as if I need modern pop music to be able to make a connection between Marie Antoinette and Paris Hilton. Beyond this, there is a constant switch between the periodic music of the 1700’s and modern punk of today. This might have been an acceptable tool had the non-diagetic music stuck to one era, and kept the period music to just the diagetic music in the film. Yet, Coppola can’t seem to decide, and in the tradition of a true adolescent teen girl, is unable to make up her mind.
Music was not the only deterrent from the film, even the acting lacks any sort of continuity throughout the film. Kirsten Dunst plays the aristocratic queen of France, yet talks in American slang like she is from the California in the 1990’s. In fact she plays the valley girl so well that it remains hard to tell if what she was doing was really acting. Dunst sounds far too comfortable dragging out her words like ‘sooooo’ that it makes the others speaking English with an attempted French accent (like Jason Schwartzman trying to play young Louis XVI) sound even more ridiculous and absurd. Watching her continually shop for new clothes and dress up in new lavish costumes everyday gives more a feel that Dunst is there playing dress up, rather than acting in a film. The varied range of acting styles in the film make it even harder to accept Marie Antoinette as a serious film with anything more to do other than capture the minds of teenage girls who giggle over the young men in the film and marvel at the shoes so often depicted in the film. Coppola even gets so brash as to throw in a pair of purple converse as if to say ‘look at me I’m now in the modern era, I know what cool is.’
Not even the set design of the film allows one a break from the barrage of trendy aesthetic. Every scene is filled with elaborate patterns and bright colors distracting from the actual image, putting the viewer in a hypnotic trance of color. Even the scenes shot outdoors with Marie Antoinette are full of an elaborate excess of design in the gardens and rows of large trees all placed in perfect lines. As she walks along a path in the garden she asks for more large trees to be planted like she wanted them tomorrow, unaware that trees cannot grow to full height in one day. She then feels as though she is compromising when she is told they do not have enough money to afford a new line of trees, so she ‘graciously’ accepts the idea to just plant smaller trees, as if this will solve the money situation of the country.
The numerous over the top attempts at being clever and attempt to force connections between Marie Antoinette, and the 20th century, makes it hard not to focus on Sofia Coppola as the director. The narrative is continually broken through loud pop music, and the periods of historical context are made so unbelievable by the differing acting styles, and the frame is so plastered by lavish, colorful designs, that the viewer is forced to focus on other aspects of the film. Therefore it is hard to not make the parallels between Sofia Coppola as a director and Marie Antoinette as the Queen of France. In both cases the two happened to be born into position of wealth and power, since Sofia Coppola is of course the daughter of the Francis Ford Coppola, the man who directed both The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. As a result, on cannot entire blame Coppola for the decisions she made for she was brought up in a rich environment in which she could be spoiled. In her defense she probably feels that shoes, candy, and parties are what people really care about, and what they really want to see. Even the opening credits slashed across the screen in a flash of white lettering surrounded by a bright pink boarder, as in a poor attempt to reference the Sex Pistols, begins the assault on the legend of Queen Marie Antoinette.
Coppola barely hints on the most important aspects of Marie Antoinette’s life, like her being the cause of the French revolution. The choice to place more emphasis and screen time on shoes rather than actual events, is an insult to the history of the true Marie Antoinette. The few scenes of historical importance are brushed over quickly with only a few references to the aid to the American Revolution, and the only scene where Mrs. Antoinette address the peasants of France, is to bow quickly and leave the frame with them as soon as possible. Yet, if one goes into Marie Antoinette not expecting a filmic masterpiece, or a film about the last queen of France, and instead prepares for a shallow teenybopper film, more like Clueless than Ben-Hur, then it will not disappoint.
Marie Antoinette
