I read a biography about Marie Antoinette last year. I'm embarrassed to say I knew very little about her before that book. She led a very brief, interesting and ultimately tragic life. I also watched an older movie last year about her that hit all the major moments I'd learned about in the book. So when I saw this come up on HBO I figured, why not check it out?
Like that older movie, this one covers most of basics, but in a much more modern style (even incorporating contemporary music). I'd've used a younger actress to portray Marie Antoinette in the beginning, because to me that's one of the fascinating things about her life- married off at just 14 years old and sent from Austria to France. Kirsten Dunst didn't look young enough during that journey to truly capture how scary that must have been.
But then, after covering her maturation and adoption of the ostentatious lifestyle of true royalty this movie ends with her and her family fleeing Versailles just as the mob is moving in. There is so much more to come; her imprisonment, a failed escape attempt and then, of course, her beheading. Not sure why director Sophia Coppola would eschew these essential moments in Antoinette's life but for me, it left me wanting for another half hour of this movie to get to the real tragic stuff.
Like that older movie, this one covers most of basics, but in a much more modern style (even incorporating contemporary music). I'd've used a younger actress to portray Marie Antoinette in the beginning, because to me that's one of the fascinating things about her life- married off at just 14 years old and sent from Austria to France. Kirsten Dunst didn't look young enough during that journey to truly capture how scary that must have been.
But then, after covering her maturation and adoption of the ostentatious lifestyle of true royalty this movie ends with her and her family fleeing Versailles just as the mob is moving in. There is so much more to come; her imprisonment, a failed escape attempt and then, of course, her beheading. Not sure why director Sophia Coppola would eschew these essential moments in Antoinette's life but for me, it left me wanting for another half hour of this movie to get to the real tragic stuff.