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Review

Produced with a forty million dollar budget, Sofia Coppola writes and directs this powerful period piece based on Antonia Fraser's novel. Filmed entirely on location with an unprecedented access to the palace at Versailles, Coppola paints a vibrant picture of the Court of King Louis XV and Louis XVI. Sumptuous production design is smartly linked with a contemporary soundtrack peopled with the likes of Bow Wow Wow, the Cure, Siouxsie Sioux and New Order. On paper, this might appear pretentious and obtrusive, but in practice it works extremely well.

Kirsten Dunst plays Marie in what may be her best casting. Basically sold to the French court to marry the future king perfectly played by Jason Schwartzman, she is an Austrian princess meant to cement the bond between the two countries. Coppola wisely chooses to focus on the hermetic world of the privileged court, rather than the country and world at large. Marie is an innocent who simply follows where her senses lead and tries to enjoy life, even though her husband is a bit of a cold fish. Dunst glowingly projects a fragile hope, her delicate features and chiseled bone structure mating with her amazing costume designs.

Into this world enter sexual politics as she strives to give the king a son, but the broader palette of social and economic realities only enter the picture near its end. As the lower classes rebel to bring about the French Revolution, the viewer sees a resigned queen bowing to her subjects she has all but ignored as she dallied in her fantasy world. The hard reality she faces at the end of her short life is effortlessly portrayed by a mature Dunst in what may be her finest role.

 -- Max Brinck