At last! And it was exactly what I wanted it to be. Seeing Marie Antoinette has really made me happy - after all the anticipation and excitement and everything, it was just wonderful. I don't really know what to say. The picture looks scrumptious, candy store pretty - costumes and decorations, and lots of widescreen shots of Versailles, and the party and court scenes sparkle. That Sofia Coppola mood - atmosphere - is present, especially in the sequence where the queen and her attendants trail through the fields after her birthday party before watching the sun rise (and, the counterpoint which tips it further bittersweet - the emptiness of the morning-after comedown as she sits silent and alone in her bath). And there's lots of light and lightness, energy and whimsy (I especially liked the first morning dressing scene).
Kirsten is really, really good - cute, charming, kittenish, poised, hinting at depths. She's onscreen for virtually the whole running time of the film, and she lights it up (as she must); the partying, the ceremonies, the moments of quiet desolation - it's all conveyed sensitively and seemingly intuitively. Totally gorgeous. Jason Schwartzman, about whom I haboured serious doubts beforehand, also v.g.. Anachronistic soundtrack worked for me: "Plainsong"! "Ceremony"! Um, the Strokes (it works in context)! And lots of other nice, fitting stuff. Liked the somewhat odd dialogue style, too.
I think that I like both Lost In Translation and The Virgin Suicides more than this one, but the way I feel about Marie Antoinette is quite different from how I respond to those earlier two (though it's very much a Coppola film in 'feel') so that comparison may not be entirely meaningful. Oh, whatever. I haven't really found the words to describe it, but that's alright. I think that I'm still a bit on a cloud from watching it.
(w/ Kelly - exactly the right company for this one.)
