Marie Antoinette 4K 2006

Sofia Coppola has created a film that is unique in its atmosphere and character. I can’t even pinpoint exactly what genre the film belongs to. It’s a comedy on the one hand, a romance on the other, and a drama by the end. At the same time, the film has such a lighthearted feel that, as you watch it, you get the illusion that you’re strolling through Marie Antoinette’s garden with her, eating a pastry off your finger, and trying on a new dress.

You feel sympathy for the queen when she is unable to bear an heir, even though her husband does nothing but sleep at night. Yet the full weight of the blame falls on her. “They say she’s frigid,” a voice whispers behind her back. And it cuts the viewer to the heart. A glaring injustice on the same theme comes from the queen’s own mother. “A young woman must know how to seduce a man”… It seems as though everyone around her has conspired against her!

Right at the very beginning of the film, when the future ruler is stripped of everything dear to her—even her beloved pug—it feels as though you’re experiencing it all yourself. Human idiocy—evident, among other scenes, in Marie Antoinette’s morning dressing routine—is portrayed so subtly that you can’t help but marvel at Coppola’s talent.

That said, I don’t consider the great queen to be a great martyr. I think the film reflects, first and foremost, the great lady’s own perception of reality, rather than counting on a single tear from the viewer. The film’s goal is not to tug at the heartstrings, but to delve into a person’s world, to perceive an inexperienced and somewhat silly young girl not as a ruler, but as a human being—flawed, passionate, and fascinating.
To be honest, I didn’t quite understand the point of the music Coppola chose for the film. It’s mostly contemporary. But by the end of the film, it stopped grating on the ears and was taken for granted. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen,