Movie Review: Marie Antoinette

In addition to books and music, I'm also a movie fan (as long as the movie is good). If I enjoyed writing screenplays (I don't--structure too constricting for me, as I found out while taking a second screenwriting class through UCLA Extension), I probably would be writing movies instead of books.

I saw MARIE ANTOINETTE. Since I loved Sophia Coppola's other two films, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and LOST IN TRANSLATION, I was prepared to love this film. Unfortunately, I do not.

I wish writers and directors would understand that it's all about character, and in this film, our heroine, Marie, goes from having a sordid affair with a Swiss soldier to suddenly acting as the perfect wife to a inept, emotionally awkward Louis XIV. Coppola implies that it is because of her becoming a mother. It's a reason I don't buy--it's a cliched and underdeveloped reason. In short, although the movie is well acted (namely, Kristen Dunst as Marie), it's weak in characterizations.

The movie is gorgeous to look at; the screen pops with colors and other sensual detail. Peppered with electronic music and New Wave, the movie works as far as the anarchonistic soundtrack. I don't want to give away the ending, but instead of rewriting history the way Coppola does, I wish she would have rewritten the script a few more times.