Marie Antoinette

Released: 2006
Drama
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman
Running Time: 123 long LONG minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown:  This is supposed to be the biography of the young queen of France, Marie Antoinette.  The movie is based on a book titled, "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" by Antonia Fraser, though I'm sure the book is much more enjoyable then the movie was.


I knew I wouldn't like this movie, most likely, but I gave it a chance anyway.  Sofia Coppola should never be allowed to be involved with another movie, in any fashion, ever, EVER again.  This movie could have easily been realistic, and it could've been more serious, and it could've been much shorter, by like 40 minutes.
There's a ton of scenes that are completely unnecessary like showing her running through fields, playing with animals, and eating, and shopping, and gambling.  A lot of the scenes looked like an Eternity cologne ad instead of a movie, and it dragged on and on.
The real story of Marie was that she was born into royalty in Austria (by the way, in the movie, maybe a handful of people spoke with an appropriate accent, but central characters did not.)  When France and Austria needed to solidify there new arrangement of being friends, Marie was given to Louis XVI as a bride at the age of 15.  She left everything and everyone behind in Austria and lived in France.

After her wedding, it was expected she produce a child right away, but it took them 7 years to have a child, and it turned out to be a girl.  She had a few miscarriages, a couple more kids, and one more that was probably not Louis'.  She began partying, eating expensive foods, spending lots of money, gambling, and most likely cheating on her husband from an early age (maybe 17).  Awhile after living there, the king died and her husband took over, and she became queen.  Eventually, the French people were tired of not being able to eat or have any sort of livable life and the French Revolution happened where they stormed the place where the king and queen lived.  The poor state of the French finances were not solely caused by the queen, but she certainly didn't help matters.
The movie ends when the angry mob shows up at their house and they are running off in the night for safety, so her and her husband's trials and executions are not shown.  (That was what I was most interested in, in this story, but I was sorely disappointed.)
As far as facts go, the movie is mostly factual, the acting is fine, the wardrobe is divine, and the animal actors, adorable, but it's a crappy movie.  Here's why:
The entire movie's soundtrack is current popular rock and roll, or pop music.  Very distracting from the story and totally takes you out of the time frame.
There's many unnecessary scenes.  I've already spoke of these with dialogue-less moments showing the queen doing various meaningless things.
My idea is, if you're doing a film and want it to be taken seriously, then do it right, otherwise, why make a movie at all?
The slow pace and unnecessary scenes, make the film really unbearable to watch and easy to dislike.

Forget this one please.
1 out of 5 for a beautiful wardrobe and some great locations.