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Marie Antoinette - Movie
Sabine
Veteran
Last weekend, I saw the movie Marie Antoinette, featuring the awesome Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman, anyone?) as the Dauphine herself. The story starts with Marie as a 15-year-old in Austria, about to be married off to the shy, yet loveable, Dauphin Louis XVI. We follow her to her new home, Versailles, where she quickly learns the sly ways of the French court. As Marie ages, she does not seem to get any more mature, or in that case, any better with financial problems, which soon leads to France's immense debt, and soon, the overthrow of the monarchy.
I'll be honest - the acting was a little spotty, certainly not Oscar-worthy. But costumes and the set were absolutely breath-taking. The excesses of the court were brilliantly portrayed - constant partying/drinking/other...unscrupulous deeds took up a good half of the movie
Soooo, all in all, I'd say a 3 out of 5.
Ta-ta!
-Sabine
I'll be honest - the acting was a little spotty, certainly not Oscar-worthy. But costumes and the set were absolutely breath-taking. The excesses of the court were brilliantly portrayed - constant partying/drinking/other...unscrupulous deeds took up a good half of the movie
Soooo, all in all, I'd say a 3 out of 5.
Ta-ta!
-Sabine
0
Comments
It would be like trying to portray Hitler as Mother Teresa's Right Hand Man....
Historical accuracy? -6 out of 10......!
One of my friends, who has been to see the film, says that a number of aspects of the Queen's life just are not there: her courage in the attempted flights from France, her plotting to have foreign troops invade the country of which she was Queen, her fierce protectiveness towards her children and her dignity in the face of death. She was, without doubt, guilty of treason (foreign invasion), although one can doubt the charges of incest. Brought up at the imperial court in Vienna, she was practically uneducated when she arrived in France.
The other aspect that upset my friend was that the state of France was turned into some sort of fashion show. Did you know, for example, that it was forbidden for courtiers to withdraw from the royal presence. They used, therefore, if in need of a 'toilet break', to make use of the spaces behind the wall-hanging tapestries? Many of the nobles only owned one or, at most, two court outfits because the cost was so outrageous. Money that could have been spent on modernising was simply poured into outward show. This had been a deliberate policy by Louis XIV and XV to impoverish the overbearing nobility and centralise power at the court. A similar, if somewhat less punitive tactic, was used after 1485 by Henry VII of England, where it worked rather better. In the film, the calling of the Estates, the Tennis Court Oath and the Revolution itself, which changed the face of Europe, appear (according to him) to be no more than an unfortunate hiccup on the catwalk.
He may, of course, be wrong.
I did enjoy how near the end of the movie, the tone was a little more sober - Marie seemed more serious, and she wasn't so obsessed with materalistic things. She did love her children in the movie, but Simon, you're right about how she didn't seem too protective of them.
The Revolution itself took about five minutes. >.< QUITE disappointing. :nonono:
But, oh well. As I said, the movie was mostly fluff and eye candy, pomp and circumstance. I might have to take my rating of it down to 2.5 out of 5...
Palzang
And that's terrible! It's like, Barbie gone wrong!