When Marie Antoinette was made in 2006 (Sophia Ford-Coppola) it was the rise of the ‘Paris Hilton’/Hollywood excess era. Can Coppola be forgiven for creating a war movie that almost entirely focuses on material history, even though it may have been contextual for the time?
Vogue- "Teen queen who rocked Versailles" or "Madame Déficit"? The nickname given to her in the summer of 1787 as a result of the public perception that she had single-handedly ruined the finances of the nation.
I admit, the aesthetics of this film, and the sounds do make it very approachable and at times enjoyable. But pretty colours and songs don’t seem quite enough to carry such a historical narrative. Coppola uses the New Order song Ceremony during the Birthday scene and Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie and the Banshees plays as digetic music when Marie is dancing at the masked ball. The affective nature of the sounds make you feel as though you can relate to the film because you may know the songs. Particularlly during the masked ball sequence, the music is lively and upbeat and you do feel yourself enjoying what you see and hear. The stark juxtaposition of modern sounds together withh 18th Century French royalty is interesting for a while but to me it seems almost irrelevant. You can enjoy New Order a lot more when it isn’t part of this film.
The theme of history is also very interesting when looking at Marie Antoinette. I did enjoy the way in which Coppola defies your usual ‘costume drama’ by focusing on the interior of the doomed Antoinette, and the way the people in power are living in an isolated bubble (of decadence). History can mean different things for different people, and Coppola focuses on Antoinette’s personal history rather than entirely on events surrounding her and what became because of her actions. She also critically addressess the roles of men and women of the time and how they are seemingly born into a God-given state, and how women must perform under societal control. While watching the film I didn’t like Marie, but you can’t help feeling sorry for her.
As the Revolution draws nearer and messages of poverty for the French people reach Versailles, it barely makes a tear in Antoinettes lavish lifestyle. “To the thinker, the most tragic fact in the whole of the French Revolution is not that Marie Antoinette was killed for being a queen, but that the starved peasant of the Vendee voluntarily went out to die for the hideous cause of feudalism.” (Oscar Wilde)
For me, the film’s use of sickly aesthetics and modern soundtrack is at points enjoyable and fun, but in the end it takes away from the real historical context, merely to please our eyes and ears. The scene where Steve Coogan, Antoinette’s advisor, is attempting to warn her of the ever-growing crisis that her people are facing, and she just turns to him and asks which sleve on her dress he prefers, is cringe-worthy. “With ruffles or without?” Style over substance anyone?
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