Queen catches new wave in Marie Antoinette

By Kylie Wakefield
Collegian Staff
November 1, 2006

I’ve determined by now that Kirsten Dunst can perfect any role she is given. She has flawlessly portrayed a devastatingly cute vampire, a redheaded superhero-lover, a secretary with an erased mind and, now, an 18th century queen of France. In Sofia Coppola’s latest film, Marie Antoinette, Dunst is at her best.

Marie Antoinette opens with the inauguration of Dunst as France’s new 14-year-old queen. She is forced to give up her clothes, her Austrian gal pals and her pug Mops. The loss of her puppy, of course, is what causes her the most turmoil. But, she is determined to keep the bond between France and Austria strong by marrying Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) and fulfilling her royal duties.

Unlike the other subjects of her court, Antoinette is a free-thinking individual who has trouble adjusting to the rigid rules of royalty life. She wants to obey her mother’s wishes by consummating her marriage to Louis XVI, but cannot easily do so, due to his lack of interest in the matter. Louis XVI looks like a scared puppy dog the whole movie. He’s especially awkward in bed with Antoinette, too preoccupied with thoughts of hunting and key-making to pursue his longing wife.

Antoinette’s lavish desire to spend France’s funds on clothes, shoes, champagne, cakes and other material goods is fueled only by her unhappiness. It is her escape from her duties and the problems of her marriage. In one scene, Antoinette and friends try on shoes, sip their expensive drinks and stuff themselves with beautifully decorated cakes to the Bow Wow Wow tune “I Want Candy.” The queen is later informed that she has spent 50,000 francs in one month on such unimportant items.

Antoinette’s style of ruling her country bewilders her family, peers and government. But the movie focuses much more on her personal life than on how she handled political issues. She frequently escapes her duties by flirting with boys at masked balls, living in a Versailles country home and drinking champagne until dawn with her friends. Her emotional state is never a secret, as she is either happy about finally succeeding as a queen or crying because she is trapped in her position.

The modern music in Marie Antoinette is a bit anachronistic, but it works well enough for the story. The visuals in the film, from Marie’s constant costume changes to the exquisite French landscapes, are a wonder to view.

Marie Antoinette is so obviously a Coppola film that it becomes somewhat predictable. Coppola loves to cast stunning young women as trapped characters. She uses visual imagery rather than dialogue to depict every one of her characters’ feelings. She frequently uses this technique in Marie Antoinette by showing Dunst frolicking in endless gardens, lying in bed alone at night and gazing out of windows, thinking of a lost love. Coppola’s style is effective, but becomes tiresome after the first hour and a half. Viewers usually crave dialogue and action rather than silence, despite how lovely the images on the screen may be.

Coppola also overreached by making the movie two hours long. It could have easily been shortened down to an hour and a half if she had cut some of the pointless but aesthetically pleasing scenes. Added dialogue would have given much more dimension to Antoinette, rather than just focusing on a few aspects of her life.

Like all of Coppola’s movies, it’s hard to determine your emotional state after the final scene. Her movies can leave you feeling empty and with some type of off-beat, undeterminable sadness. After seeing Marie Antoinette, I was neither filled with joy nor with sorrow, just kind of numb to what had happened in the last two hours of my life.

Alas, though, I believe in Coppola. Even if she wasn’t 100 percent historically accurate with this film, she tried. Dunst and Schwartzman fantastically acted out their roles as naïve and helpless 18th century royals. Marie Antoinette is a film for those who fancy visual stories and Coppola’s earlier work. Coppoloa gives you your cake and lets you eat it, too.

wakefieldk1@lasalle.edu