| Marie Antoinette Posted: I enjoyed "Marie Antoinette" a lot more than I thought I would. The film begins with Marie (Kirsten Dunst), the Austrian Archduchess, setting off to France to marry Louis-Auguste (Jason Schwartzman). Unfortunately, Marie's new husband has little interest in her or in the act of consummating their marriage, so the future queen finds herself in limbo for quite some time, as it is uncertain whether she will produce an heir to the throne and thus survive at court. Eventually Louis-Auguste comes around, and Marie gives birth to a daughter, and later a son. In the meantime, Marie becomes known as the Queen of Excesses, spending copious amounts of money on clothing and jewels instead of bothering to become acquainted with the issues of relevance to the French people. Marie enjoys parties, sweets, and even an illicit affair, but the fun comes crashing down when the monarchy falls out of favor with the citizens of France, who angrily storm the castle in an attempt on Marie's life. Eventually the royal family is forced to flee their home and go into hiding.
Obviously, the best thing about this movie is the way it looks on screen. Watching "Marie Antoinette" is like stepping into a high-end bakery and admiring a bunch of scrumptious, frilly wedding cakes. Everything about the film is absolutely beautiful: the costumes, the shoes, the palaces, the desserts. However, the dialogue in the first half of the movie is very choppy and sparse, so the only thing for the audience to do is admire all the visual beauty. After a while the script does manage to turn itself around, and I think the second half of the movie is much better in terms of storyline and character development. "Marie Antoinette" has a fabulous soundtrack that consists of mostly punk music, which is a lot of fun. Also, the cast is excellent. I was impressed with all the performances, especially Dunst's. She portrays Marie as a naive, frivolous, but not entirely unsympathetic person. I thought she did a really good job.
I was surprised that the film ended so abruptly and did not take us to the end of Marie's life. I think the story could have wrapped up a lot better than it did. All in all, though, "Marie Antoinette" isn't great, but it's very good. |
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