There is a term ‘curates egg’ referring to something that is so mixed it invariably becomes spoiled. Marie Antoinette, the new film by Sophia Coppola is just such a thing. Beautifully shot, quite well acted, great story (of course) and a rock and roll soundtrack!

Whatever possessed them to do such a thing?

I’m not a huge fan of period dramas, and it really was only Coppolas involvement that made me want to watch this movie (I really enjoyed Lost in Translation). The story is superb, and I like the fact they did not focus on the stereotypical Antoinette story, but chose to make Marie a naive girl who is introduced to the French court  through an arranged marriage, and never finds comfort there. Louis XVI is the perfect Dauphin, so socially inept that it takes him years to make love to his princess.

Its a wonderful story that is beautifully shot on beautiful locations (they had permission to shoot in Versailles - so you know the sets are accurate),  its well written and pretty well acted by a great cast - but truly the soundtrack ruined the movie for me, masked balls with Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure playing really grated on me, I can see why Cannes critics didn’t like it.

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