The Frame

I’ll admit it: when I first saw the trailer for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, I had serious doubts. Why was Coppola following up the incredible Lost in Translation with a fluffy-looking biopic of the doomed French queen? Exactly how light was she going to make the tragedy of the French Revolution? And for crying out loud, why did she cast Kirsten Dunst, whose acting is inconsistent at best? I should have had more faith. Though Marie Antoinette is unconventional, it is a solid and riveting re-interpretation of the giddy but not untroubled courts of Louis XVI and Louis XVII. The use of actors like Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, who are not known as period actors, as well as anachronistic music, sounds like an ill-conceived attempt to make the story feel contemporary, but it actually works. Dunst impresses as the barely-more-than-a-child treaty bride, always in danger of being sent home or worse if she fails to produce a male heir. Her problems may seem trivial when juxtaposed with the plight of the exploited French people, but the sudden explosion of the French Revolution into the opulent court only emphasizes the absolute shock and complete historical break that the Revolution represents. I could write much more about the film, because I honestly was so much more impressed by it than I expected to be. Coppola took some serious risks artistically and historically, but they paid off. When can I see her next film?
Superior