Marie Antoinette (2006 film)

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Marie Antoinette

Directed by	Sophia Coppola
Produced by	Francis Ford Coppola
Written by	Sophia Coppola (screenplay) Antonia Fraser (book)
Starring	Kirsten Dunst Jason Schwartzman Judy Davis Rip Torn Rose Byrne Asia Argento Marianne Faithfull Molly Shannon Steve Coogan
Music by	Air Jean-Philippe Rameau
Cinematography	Lance Acord
Editing by	Sarah Flack
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 20, 2006 World Premiere: 24 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival)
Running time	122 min
Country	USA
Language	English, some French
Budget	$40,000,000
IMDb profile

Marie Antoinette is an Academy Award-winning 2006 film written and directed by Sofia Coppola about the life of Marie Antoinette. It was Coppola's first film since winning an Academy Award for the screenplay of 2003's Lost in Translation. The film is loosely based on the historical biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Lady Antonia Fraser, and ends with the fall of Versailles. It is the first full-length biopic of Queen Marie Antoinette to be made in the English language since the 1938 Oscar-nominated Hollywood film starring Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Soundtrack
4 Trailers
5 Response
6 Box office
7 Nominations and awards
8 Trivia/Bloopers
9 DVD release
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Maria Antonia (Kirsten Dunst), a naïve, young Archduchess from Austria, comes to the Palace of Versailles to marry the Dauphin of France (Jason Schwartzman) and seal an alliance between the two countries. On a small island in the middle of the Rhine River, a symbolic crossing-over ceremony takes place. As per tradition, the soon-to-be dauphine must relinquish anything belonging to the foreign court from which she comes; this includes not only her clothing and personal effects, her friends and ladies-in-waiting and even her dog. Emerging from out of a tent onto the French side of the river, Maria Antonia becomes Marie Antoinette.

Marie Antoinette soon meets Louis XV (Rip Torn) and his grandson, the dauphin. After very little time spent getting used to her new surroundings, Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin Louis are officially married. Toasts are drunk to their happy marriage and they are encouraged to produce an heir as soon as possible. That night, after the consecration of their marriage bed, the royal household leaves, waiting in anticipation.

The next day it is reported to the King that 'nothing happened'. As if an increasingly fruitless marriage weren't problematic enough, Marie Antoinette is finding France to be very different from Habsburg Austria. Courtly life at Versailles is stifling for the Dauphine, who is never without an unwanted entourage of servants and noblewomen who neither know nor care for her. The courtiers at Versailles disdain Marie as a foreigner - an Austrian, nonetheless - and blame her for not having produced an heir. She is not allowed even to dress herself, and must take breakfast in a great hall where hundreds of nobles observe her and her husband does little more than gorge himself on enormous amounts of food.

The Court in France is ripe with gossip. The King has a mistress, Madame du Barry (Asia Argento) and people gossip about how she would not be allowed at the court but for Louis XV's favor. Rumor also has it that Marie Antoinette has no love whatsoever for her husband; she is looked upon by many as cold and distant. Marie Antoinette ruffles more feathers by defying the high formality of the French court; she accompanies her husband and his friends on hunting excursions, passing out food to them and occasionally to the animals, claps at the opera, and often snubs other members of the aristocracy and royal family. She receives a letter from her mother, Maria Theresa, the Holy Roman Empress, warning her that an unconsummated marriage is easily annulled and encouraging her to inspire the Dauphin to sexual fervour. That night, Marie Antoinette attempts to seduce her husband but her advances are rebuffed.

Time passes in the same fashion and Marie Antoinette's mother Maria Theresa (Marianne Faithfull) continues to write to her giving advice; also telling her to stop snubbing Madame du Barry as this is akin to criticising the King's behaviour. The Court continues to snipe at Madame du Barry, criticising her fashion and her behaviour, demeaning her as a harlot whose title was bought for her by the King. Marie Antoinette gives in, for fear of falling out of favour with the King, since her marriage is not on solid ground. She finally condescends to speak to Madame du Barry, remarking at a reception that, "There are a lot of people at Versailles today." As she left with friends, the Dauphine remarked that those would be the last words she would ever say to Barry.

Marie Antoinette has finally found a handful of confidantes and is beginning to adjust to her new life. She finds solace in buying elaborate gowns and shoes, eating elaborate cakes and pastries (produced for the film by Ladurée), and hosting wild parties at the Petit Trianon, her own private sanctuary on the grounds of Versailles.

The Dauphin and his brother go on a hunting excursion and Marie tells him that she will be humiliated if her sister-in-law Marie Thérèse becomes pregnant before her. Her husband tells her not to worry; that everything will go swimmingly. His Majesty tells his advisor that he has no intention of breaking the alliance with Austria and sends a doctor to see Marie and Louis XVI. Pressure continues on all sides for Marie to become pregnant but the Dauphin seems unwilling to ever sleep with her.

Marie Antoinette's sister-in-law eventually gives birth to a baby boy.

As France's political and economic situation worsens, Marie Antoinette becomes more detached from life outside the palace and her lifestyle grows more hedonistic and decadent. One night, she sneaks out with her friends to attend a masked ball where they continue in their frivolity.

Louis XV passes away and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are crowned as the new King and Queen of France. A few years later Marie celebrates her 21st birthday with a lavish party. She continues her spending spree and remains indifferent to the growing poverty and unrest among the French working class. The new King is young and inexperienced and begins spending more money on foreign wars, sending France even further into debt.

Marie Antoinette's brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (Danny Huston) comes to visit, counselling her against her constant parties and associations. She fails to heed his advice. Her brother also counsels the King and this time his advice is heeded. Marie Antoinette gives birth to a girl, Marie Thérèse, and would like to breastfeed, but this is not socially acceptable. The baby princess grows older and Marie Antoinette spends much of her time at the Petit Trianon.

It is suggested also that at this time Marie Antoinette enters into an alleged affair with Count Axel von Fersen (Jamie Dornan).

France continues to subsidize the American Revolution, despite the enormous expense. Ironically, the Revolution that worsened the plight of the French peasantry soon inspired them to start one of their own. Food shortages grow more frequent, as do riots in Paris. Marie Antoinette's image with her subjects has completely deteriorated at this point. Her lavish lifestyle and callous indifference to the common people result in unflattering and obscene political cartoons and earn her the title "Queen of Debt". The Queen is now a mother and has begun to mature. She focuses less on her obligations as a socialite and more on her family, and tones down her opulent lifestyle, including a decision to stop purchasing diamonds. Around the time that Marie Antoinette's mother passes away, she also gives birth to a baby boy, the new Dauphin.

The French Revolution comes into full fruition and an angry mob begins a march from Paris to Versailles. As most of the nobility flees the country, the royal family resolves to stay. The rioting sans-culottes reach the palace and the King and Queen are forced to leave the following morning. Unmentioned in the film are the royal couple's later incarceration and execution.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Production

The production crew was given unprecedented access to the Palace of Versailles ^[1], where the real Marie Antoinette lived from the time of her marriage in 1770 until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. The movie takes the same sympathetic view of Marie Antoinette's life as was presented in Fraser's biography.

While the action happens in Versailles (including the queen's Petit Trianon and the petit hameau) and the Paris Opera, some scenes were also shot in Vaux-le-Vicomte and Chateau de Chantilly.

Eyebrows were raised at the casting of young American actress (herself of Swiss German ancestry) Kirsten Dunst in the title role. Previously, Dunst has won praise for portraying difficult characters,^{[citation needed]} such as the vampire-child Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (1994), a suicidal suburban teen in her first Coppola collaboration, The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Marion Davies in The Cat's Meow (2001).

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Marie Antoinette (soundtrack)

The film's soundtrack contains songs by 1980s New Wave and post-punk bands such as New Order ("Ceremony", "Age of Consent"), The Cure ("All Cats Are Grey", "Plainsong"), Siouxsie and the Banshees ("Hong Kong Garden"), and Bow Wow Wow ("Fools Rush In", "Aphrodisiac" and "I Want Candy") as well as newer material by The Strokes, Aphex Twin and The Radio Dept..

In several 2006 interviews, Sofia Coppola suggests that her highly stylized interpretation is very modern in order to humanize the historical figures involved. She has taken great artistic liberties with the source material and the film does not focus simply on historical facts — “It is not a lesson of history. It is an interpretation documented, but carried by my desire for covering the subject differently.”^[2] Perhaps because of this unusual approach, the film was booed at early screenings in Cannes. ^[3] At the opposite extreme of opinion, British historian Lady Antonia Fraser, author of the acclaimed bestselling biography upon which the film is loosely based, proclaimed that the film was "beautiful" in an interview with The Times.

Some scenes, however, utilize Baroque music, principally composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Three of his pieces are in the film:

Les Indes Galantes - "1st Menuet Pour Les Guirries et les Amazones, 2nd Menuet"
Performed by William Christie & Les Arts Florissants
Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi France (P) 1991

Castor & Pollux - "Tristes apprêts, pâles flambeaux""
Performed by Agnès Mellon (soporano) with William Christie & Les Arts Florissants
Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi France (P) 1993

Platée - "Aux languets d'Apollon"
Performed by Carolyn Sampson (soprano) with Jeffrey Skidmore & Ex Cathedra
Courtesy of Hyperion Records, Ltd.

"Les Barricades Mystérieuses", composed by François Couperin, and two numbers from Aphex Twin's drukqs album, "Jynweythek Ylow" and "Avril 14th", are also featured.

[edit] Trailers

An early teaser trailer for the film was unusual in that it lacked dialogue, voiceover or ambient sound. Instead, it included the song "Age of Consent" by New Order, though the song would not appear in the film or soundtrack. Songs featured for later trailers were the Gang of Four song "Natural's Not In It", "Ceremony" by New Order,"What Ever Happened?" by The Strokes, and "Plainsong" by The Cure. Subsequent trailers are more conventional and have included dialogue.

[edit] Response

In early reviews the film's loose adherence to the facts and offbeat style has already divided critics. Roger Ebert in his Cannes Log on his website, explained, "But now let's step back and be fair. Yes, there was booing. But I was present at the screening and would guess not more than five people, maybe 10, booed. Many others applauded. Booing is always shocking to North American critics; I am not sure I have heard booing more than once or twice in all my years at the Toronto, Sundance, Telluride, Chicago, Montreal or New York festivals. In Europe, they boo all the time, sometimes because they think a film is bad, sometimes because it is (according to them) politically incorrect."^[4]

Roger Ebert gave the movie a rating of four stars (out of a possible four) in his Chicago Sun-Times column.^[5]

People's movie critic, Leah Rozen, wrote in her wrap up of the Cannes Film Festival that, "The absence of political context, however, upset most critics of Marie-Antoinette, director Sofia Coppola's featherweight follow-up to Lost in Translation. Her historical biopic plays like a pop video, with Kirsten Dunst as the doomed 18th century French queen acting like a teenage flibbertigibbet intent on being the leader of the cool kids' club."^[6]

On the Rotten Tomatoes website (www.rottentomatoes.com), which compiles mostly North American reviews, the film has received an average rating of 6/10. Some 53 per cent of reviews were "fresh", meaning generally positive, and 47 per cent were "rotten", as at March 2007.

[edit] Box office

In the USA the film opened with $5,361,050 in just 859 theaters, with a respectable $6,200 per theater. [1]. However, the film quickly faded, grossing $15 million domestically, and has grossed around $60 million worldwide [2].

[edit] Nominations and awards

Won the Academy Award for Costume Design (Milena Canonero).

Nominated for three BAFTA awards, for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup & Hair.

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Marie-Antoinette was entry for Official Selection of Golden Palm and won the Cinema Prize of the French National Education System.^[7]

The film was nominated for "Best Feature" at the Gotham Awards. [3]

Won "Best Art Direction" at the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards. [4]

Won "Best Art Direction" and "Best Costume Design" at both the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards and the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards.

[edit] Trivia/Bloopers

In one scene while Marie Antoinette is getting ready, a pair of blue Converse tennis shoes are visible in the scene. Sofia Coppola has stated in interviews that the shoes were purposely put in the shot to portray Marie Antoinette as a typical teenage girl, despite the time she lived in.

[edit] DVD release

The Region 1 DVD version of the movie was released on February 13, 2007. Special features on the disc include a "making of" featurette, two deleted scenes and a brief parody segment of MTV Cribs featuring Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI of France. The Region 2 DVD version, including the same special features, was released February 26, 2007. No commentary is available for the DVD.