Marie Antoinette

Rating:	★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

After failing twice to watch the film (we were late for the screening the first time and by the second time, it was temporarily taken off the cinemas to give way to 007 Casino Royale), last hollidays in the deep south, finally, I was able to watch Sofia Coppola's retelling of one of the controversial monarchs in world history.

And I should have listened to fate telling me the first 2 attempts of watching the film: the entire film was dreadfully insipid, and a gross deservice to the grandeur and the historical significance of the set (filmed inside the Versailles) and the pretty, pretty period costumes. The indecipherable whispering was unnerving, annoying to say the least and ultimately forgettable. I mean come on Ms. Coppola, there must be something lost in the translation here (pardon the pun). On what supposed to be the most important (and dramatic) figures of French history, the whole film was watered down to an exercise of boredom that I could have wished Marie Antoinette and her coterie were beheaded in the first few minutes of the film and I would have stood up and left. An attempt to approximate the cinematography of similar modern interpretations like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet was offset by the fact that there was no story to tell or should I say there was no story told in the first place.

Dunst delivered a really weird performance as the young Austrian princess married off to the French Crown Prince. "Let them eat cake" was supposed to be one of the most infamous lines ever uttered but the star of Legally Blond (Okay, I stand corrected, it was Reese Witherspoon, but blond girls look alike so sue me..hehe.. let me rephrase this part- replace Legally Blond with the Mary Jane character from Spider Man. Hehehehe... thanks Jane for the correction) just mouthed them off almost flatly. Makes you wonder whether Dunst ever learned anything from years of acting.

With films like this, I may just have to chuck off my Valiums, this is the ultimate sedation baby! 2 Stars- One for Versailles and another for the costumes.