Marie Antoinette

Sofia Coppola follows up her excellent Lost in Translation with one of this year’s most adventurous, better-looking features. Her Marie Antoinette won’t score high points with historians and ardent Marie Antoinette fans looking for an accurate depiction of the queen’s life and times. Let them bitch. This movie is a beautiful thing to look at, and Kirsten Dunst makes for an astonishingly good Antoinette. Coppola is still using that dreamy pace most evident in Translation. She has no problems letting the camera linger, and while that suits me just fine, I’ve always had a hard time arguing with those who find her works boring. I think her directorial pacing is justified by the sumptuous visuals she is capturing, and her films just sort of put a spell on you. Coppola uses modern music to great effect, including The Cure and The Strokes. I expect this one will get Art Direction and Costume Oscar nominations because they are superb.