Marie Antoinette - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
ONE of the most eagerly anticipated films at Cannes 2006 was Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola’s long-awaited follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Lost In Translation. Post-Cannes, it is now renowned for being booed by certain critics.
But now that the dust has settled, the film doesn’t appear to be as bad as some headlines suggest. It certainly has left people divided, while the booers have been mostly identified as disgruntled French critics, angered by Coppola’s take on one of their key historical figures.
The film is a portrait of Marie Antoinette, a naive teenager who was entirely unprepared to take her place in the turbulent history of late 18th Century France.
The Austrian born princess was sent off to Versailles at 14, where she became lost in the rigid etiquette, brutal family infighting and merciless gossip of the French royal court.
She was then forced to live her life in the unforgiving glare of the public spotlight, but found her escape in the sensual pleasures of youth. However, such frivolity unwittingly made her the object of scandal and a convenient scapegoat for a society on the verge of revolution.
One of the most distinctive things about it, however, is Coppola’s decision to merge contemporary pop records (such as Adam & The Ants) with 18th Century music. It was something she had to defend at the subsequent press conference, saying:
“I wanted to use a mixture of 18th Century and contemporary music, to use a music that had the emotional quality that the scene should have. When she went to the ball, she was excited and I picked the music that gives that feeling the most. So I wanted to do a combination of modern and period music.”
Marie Antoinette is notable for reuniting Coppola, the director, with Kirsten Dunst, who last appeared in her film, The Virgin Suicides. It also stars Steve Coogan and Jason Schwartzman.
Coogan was among those to jump to the film’s defence once quizzed on the boos.
“When you make a film that refers to a specific, it’s inevitable that there will be some nay-sayers,” he argued. “It’s better to have that than bland and beautiful. It’s consistent with all the qualities of putting the action in the past. The people who love to see a Coppola film will love this one. She wanted it to be a sort of historical document and giving it contemporary resonance.”
Commenting on her own intentions for the film, Coppola herself stated: “I wasn’t making a political movie about the French Revolution, I was doing a portrait of the character Marie Antoinette and my themes are in the film. She was a symbol of decadence. It was very interesting to read and research more about Marie Antoinette, more about the human experience of this young girl who went to Versailles when she was 14 and how she developed in the Cour de Versailles.
“I thought she was an interesting character. I have always been attracted to the 18th Century in France. I knew so little about the personal side of her. The story is about teenagers in Versailles so I wanted it to have the energy of youth, a teenage feeling to it.”
UK fans of Coppola’s work may have to wait some time before being able to judge the film for themselves. It is currently scheduled to open in UK cinemas on February 16, 2007. Although with that date in mind, don’t bet against it cropping up in something like the London Film Festival in November.