marieantoin06

In “Lost In Translation,” Sofia Coppola proved that her profound experiences in Japan consisted of
staying huddled up inside a luxury hotel. With “Marie Antoinette,” Coppola shows that she also
knows nothing of consequences for a tepid and grossly opulent lifestyle.

Even those with a cursory knowledge of history know that Marie Antoinette was the famously selfish
French queen whose lavish indulgences raised the ire of an entire nation and ended in the removal
of her head by the French peasantry in the 18th century. Coppola’s re-imagining of this event in
history is fatally flawed and itself overindulgent, and no, that’s not creative or artistic brilliance.

Like her previous effort, Coppola once again tortures the audience with static, repetitive shots of
King Louis and Marie Antoinette, played by Kirsten Dunst, at ceremonial and stuffy breakfasts and
lunches. Coppola tries to show Marie Antoinette’s life as one in which she is imprisoned by her own
affluence, making flimsy excuses for the irrational behavior that is to follow.

As expected from a director who grew up in the riches of Hollywood as the daughter of an Oscar-
winning director, Coppola proves she too does not understand or want to understand that there are
dire consequences to selfish actions. After two hours of monotony, watching Dunst’s Marie
Antoinette indulge and indulge and indulge, while also committing adultery and buying sickeningly
expensive clothes, the audience is gleefully ready to see Dunst lose her head.

However, Coppola in a weak but sadly understandable choice, does not punish Marie Antoinette for
the audience or even historic authenticity. Instead, all we see is an angry mob confront her at her
palace and then she leaves Versailles in a carriage with her children. The last shot is simply a
ransacked room at the palace. Clearly, Coppola can conceive no wrongdoing on Marie Antoinette’s
part.

Like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, Coppola lives in a world without consequences in Tinsel Town
and refuses to show what ultimately befell the world’s first modern girl gone wild, because for those
like Hilton, Spears and Coppola, there are no consequences just more parties to go to. Heck,
Coppola even subjects the viewer to a montage of 18th century food and clothing to the 1980s
bubblegum pop song, “I Want Candy.” The movie feels more like a fan-made YouTube.com
montage of a film than a finished work.

If this were 18th century France, Hilton, Spears and Coppola would be in for a rude awakening at
the edge of a guillotine.