I remember watching this film for the first time in 2014. I knew very little about the French Revolution; to me, it was synonymous with Les Misérables, even though it took place after the revolution. All I knew was that there had been a revolution against a decadent royal family. That was an understatement.
Arguably Sofia Coppola's magnum opus, the 2006 film is quite literally eye candy. The costumes are bright and colourful, and the cakes and pastries match the aesthetic. Somehow the colour palette matched perfectly with the aesthetics of the Palace of Versailles. It made me feel like I wanted to lie on a chaise longue while eating a strawberry pudding with a glass of champagne on the side. Marie Antoinette's youth and innocence was heavily emphasised in the film. Coppola's brother, Roman, deliberately threw in a pair of Converse trainers into a scene where Antoinette tries on a number of heels (see image below), a decision originally made for fun, but still significant nonetheless. Highlighting Antoinette's youth, it demonstrates even more her extravagance and love for fashion, typical behaviour of a teenage girl.
Perhaps what fascinated me the most was the etiquette observed. I have always had an interest in social etiquette - how one behaves in general society according to their social rank has varied throughout the decades, far more throughout the centuries. The etiquette observed in the French court was one of the key subjects of the film, especially in the first half. In Antonia Fraser's "Marie Antoinette: The Journey," she cites an alleged quote by the then-Dauphine, "I put on my rouge and wash my hands in front of the whole world." Getting dressed is a very intimate act, yet the Versailles court was not sympathetic to private matters. The film sees the newly-wed Antoinette being forced to get dressed in front of at least twenty people, who hold either major or minor rights in her bedchamber (quite shameful, in my opinion!), quite humorously to Vivaldi's Concerto in G Major.
What did annoy me were the accents. Films often establish a certain class divide based on accents; My Fair Lady is a perfect example of that. To be refined is to speak in a certain way. Generally speaking, many films are guilty of this fault. Les Miserables, though a musical, is just at fault; they seemed to try by giving the Thenardier couple a stereotypical cockney accent, but there was no generic accent for the upper classes, and tended to range between American and British depending on whether one compares the film adaptation of the musical or just the live musical on its own. Anyway, I digress.
Something I didn't expect was the focus on Marie Antoinette's affair with Count Fersen in the film. From what I know of their actual relationship in history, there was actually no concrete evidence to suggest that the two were having a sexual affair. A statement from the Swedish ambassador did however point out that the two were close in some way, to the point that the Queen's eyes were "often filled with tears" before Fersen departed for good. Perhaps the two did have an affair; honestly, given Marie Antoinette's personality after she had settled in France for some time, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
All in all, I love this film. The aesthetics are done so well, the actors immersed themselves into their characters, and if one ignores the historical inaccuracies, it's easy to enjoy the film.
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