REVIEW: Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Dir Sofia Coppola, Starring Kirsten Dunst
It takes hard work to be able to place Converse shoes in a period film. Equally tricky is making a teen movie chick-flick out of a biography of the beheaded French queen. Sofia Coppola nevertheless manages to accomplish both these feats with great style and naivety. The script and story seem to be simply added extras to the dazzlingly big budget scenic elements and filming. The lighting sparkles, emphasising lively colours, like those of the extravagantly beautiful costumes.
The images are flashy and fun and worthy of a music video — indeed, the soundtrack is constituted of shockingly contemporary music. This is in direct contrast to the skimpy storyline and two-dimensional characters — for which Kirsten Dunst is partly responsible. It is a shame considering that the film could go into the considerable depths of the queen’s psyche. It does not.
It seems as if this film is simply a juxtaposition of little plots — twenty minutes on a love story, ten on a child who only manages to say: “I am glad you find me so, Sir,” and so on. Skimming, light and jovial, Marie Antoinette is a great film to have playing in the background at a party.
8th Jun 2006