Marie Antoinette

by Sofia Coppola

Based on the book The Journey by Antonia Fraser, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is a powerful and sympathetic film of the tragic life of France's iconic and misunderstood eighteenth-century Queen. Shot entirely in France, much on location at the Palace of Versailles, the film is visually stunning, bringing together a cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, and Marianne Faithful, and the extraordinary costume designs of Oscar-winner Milena Canonero ( Barry Lyndon , A Clockwork Orange ).
A moving story of naivety and responsibility, reputation and misunderstanding, Marie Antoinette is a film that Sofia Coppola has wanted to make for years. In a book that is at once the personal chronicle of a major work and a beautiful tribute to the potential of film, featuring elements of the director's own screenplay as well as captivating stills, the director's personal photos, and original designs for costumes and sets, Marie Antoinette is an essential companion for any lover of modern cinema.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Film, Photography, Coffee Table Books, Media Tie In

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2006

About the author

Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American film director, actress, producer and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is the first American woman and third woman in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two women being Lina Wertmüller and Jane Campion.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marie Antoinette, written and directed by Sofia Coppola


Marie Antoinette was nominated for the most relevant cinema award at the 2006 Festival, the coveted:

The Palme D’Or

For this film buff, this nomination means that Marie Antoinette was one of the best motion pictures of 2005.
However, the production was controversial, even if it won an Academy Award in the technical arena.

It has to be admitted that there are two ways to look at this movie and indeed, at anything else:
“There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so” – Hamlet

On the one hand, the interpretation of the magnificent Sofia Coppola is rather phantasmagoric, postmodern maybe.
It is an astonishing contrast between Marie Antoinette and The Beguiled, the latter launched in 2017.

Sofia Coppola has won the Cannes Festival award for Best Director for The Beguiled, at last year’s ceremony.
Furthermore, the same production was also nominated for the grandest prize of all…The Palme D’Or.

Only this most recent creation from the extraordinary filmmaker is subdued, restrained and dark.
While Marie Antoinette is flamboyant, effervescent, with literal and artistic fireworks, modern and fresh.
Those who contest the film thought it was too farfetched and modern for a historical production.

The costumes are sumptuous- they have won the Oscar for good reason- but the sets are also ravishing.
For the BAFTA Awards in 2007, the motion picture was nominated for:

Best Production Design, Best Make Up & Hair and Best Costume Design…

Kirsten Dunst is very good, alluring, wild, admirable in the leading role of the tragic queen, albeit we see her in the glory days of the reign.
The actress is a favorite of the writer, director and producer Sofia Coppola, for she is also present in The Beguiled.

Jason Schwartzman, if this information is not wrong, also a member of the extremely talented Coppola family, is King Louis XVI.
Both King Louis and his consort have made mistakes, but their fate is too catastrophic and not deserved.

First, there are apocryphal statements…
Queen Marie Antoinette is supposed to have said

“They do not have bread?
Well, let them eat cake then!”

Historians say that she did not say this.
It is however testament to the fact that the image of the queen was terrible and the people hated her.

Indeed, once the revolutionaries reached the fabulous, magnificent, glorious, triumphant palace, they shouted:
“Death to the queen!”

This happens towards the end, but this is one situation where no spoiler alert is required, for nobody interested in this film would be in a position to ask:

Whatever happened to this queen and king?

Nevertheless, the film is phenomenal in not delving into the horror of the final moments and does not introduce decapitations and other gruesome scenes.
Instead, we have a beautiful, rather hopeful, suggestive, exceptional ending for a lavishing and moving motion picture.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a highly-abridged screenplay of the film, which doesn't capture the perfection and beauty of the movie. The stills from the film are pretty but - at least in my edition - somewhat grainy, making this not entirely worth its hefty price. I will still be putting this on display, though.

[Belinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous pastel colour palette. Mostly photos from the film's production.

[Nick Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

beware of deficit

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sofia Coppola<3

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice coffee table type book for fans of the movie. nicely put together, but the quality of the printing itself leaves a bit to be desired. The pictures are very low quality and grainy. For something that's more of a collector's item it leaves a bit to be desired in actual quality.

[Patricia Dourado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazings screenplay and pictures!