Sofia Coppola's 2006 take on the life of the eponymous queen. We follow Marie from her introduction to the French court at 15 as she is married to the future King Louis XVI through to the fall of Versailles.
We are given in Marie at first a young girl bemused and confused by the pomp and ceremony of the royal court, then a young woman under pressure to bear an heir to finally a women who refuses to flee in the face of the mob and proudly stands her ground alongside her husband.
In the title role Kirsten Dunst does a decent job, she is most at home in the earlier , brighter half of the film but does slowly manage to bring an edge of determination to Marie in the closing stages and does give bring an air of frustration and loneliness at times.
Elsewhere in the cast it is hard to judge since Jason Schwatzman has not a lot of things to say as the King and others such Danny Huston and Steve Coogan appear in roles as small enough to be cameos and not much else.
There is not a lot of substance to the film and not a lot there that it's trying to say, merely that Marie was a youthful, excitable girl thrown in to the high life and then unable to do anything to stop the collapse of France around her (after all her bad rep it was the frailty of France's Ancien Regime and costly funding of American independence that pushed it over the edge).
Where the film succeeds is in style and soundtrack. Nearly every scene is awash with lavish costumes and sets with a soundtrack full of indie pop, we are given the period piece as teen film. It partially works and is a striking film to watch (a number of sequences sharing the ethereal feel of The Virgin Suicides) but much like Maire's favourite confections it is bright and brash but does not hold much substance.
So worth seeing for the craftsmanship in the costuming, the choice of soundtrack and a few sequences that confirm Sofia has the family eye for a shot, but by no means essential. So The Virgin Suicides remains the best of Sofia Coppola's films so far with Lost In Translation not far behind with Maire Antoinette as the airy chocolate moose to the main meal.
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