Genre:
Historical Film
Theatrical Release: 10/20/2006(USA)
Release Date: 01/01/2001
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time:
Flags: Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Sony Pictures
Writer and director
Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe's most infamous monarchs in this lavish
historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility,
Marie Antoinette (
Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry
Louis XVI (
Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life,
Marie weds
Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her,
Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time,
Marie's trusted older brother,
Joseph (
Danny Huston), is brought in to coach
Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as
Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring
Rip Torn,
Judy Davis,
Steve Coogan, and
Asia Argento,
Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the
2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
;)
