Marie Antoinette Wallpaper, Marie Antoinette Movie, Wallpaper, Photo

[edit] Production

The production was given unprecedented access to the Palace of Versailles.^[1] The movie takes the same sympathetic view of Marie Antoinette's life as was presented in Fraser's biography. Coppola has stated that the style for shooting was heavily influenced by the films of Wong Kar-wai, Terrence Malick, and Milos Forman, Coppola was also influenced by Lisztomania by Ken Russell.^{[citation needed]}

While the action happens in Versailles (including the Queen's Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la reine) and the Paris Opera (which was built after the death of the real Marie Antoinette), some scenes were also shot in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Château de Chantilly, Hôtel de Soubise and at the Belvedere in Vienna.

Milena Canonero and six assistant designers created the gowns, hats, suits and prop costume pieces. Ten rental houses were also employed, and the wardrobe unit had seven transport drivers. Shoes were made by Manolo Blahnik and Pompei, and hundreds of wigs and hair pieces were made by Rocchetti & Rocchetti. As revealed in the "Making of" documentary on the DVD, the look of Count von Fersen was influenced by 1980's rock star Adam Ant. Ladurée made the pastries for the film; its famous macarons are featured in a scene between Marie-Antoinette and Ambassador Mercy.^[2]

[edit] Response

In several 2006 interviews, Coppola suggests that her highly stylized interpretation is very modern in order to humanize the historical figures involved. She has taken great artistic liberties with the source material and the film does not focus simply on historical facts – "It is not a lesson of history. It is an interpretation documented, but carried by my desire for covering the subject differently." Perhaps because of this unusual approach, the film was booed at early screenings at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

People magazine's movie critic, Leah Rozen, wrote in her wrap-up of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival that, "The absence of political context, however, upset most critics of Marie Antoinette, director Sofia Coppola's featherweight follow-up to Lost in Translation. Her historical biopic plays like a pop video, with Kirsten Dunst as the doomed 18th century French queen acting like a teenage flibbertigibbet intent on being the leader of the cool kids' club."^[3]

American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four. He states that, "every criticism I have read of this film would alter its fragile magic and reduce its romantic and tragic poignancy to the level of an instructional film. This is Sofia Coppola's third film centering on the loneliness of being female and surrounded by a world that knows how to use you but not how to value and understand you." ^[4]

On the Rotten Tomatoes website, which compiles mostly North American reviews, the film has been given a "rotten" rating with 54 percent of contributing critics giving it positive reviews.^[5]

[edit] Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film opened with $5,361,050 in just 859 theaters, with $6,241 per theater.^[6] Nevertheless, the film quickly faded, grossing $15 million in Northern America, and has grossed around $61 million worldwide, making it one of the few underperformers for distributor Columbia that year.^[6] The film made over $7 million in France where the film is set, but fared less well in the United Kingdom where it took only $1,727,858.^[7]

[edit] Nominations and awards

Academy Awards record

1. Best Costume Design, Milena Canonero

Won the Academy Award for Costume Design (Milena Canonero).

Nominated for three BAFTA awards, for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup & Hair.

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Marie Antoinette was entry for Official Selection of Golden Palm and won the Cinema Prize of the French National Education System.^[8]^[9]

The film was nominated for Best Feature at the Gotham Awards.^[10]

Won Best Art Direction at the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards.

Won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at both the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards and the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards.

[edit] DVD release

The Region 1 DVD version of the movie was released on February 13, 2007. Special features on the disc include a "making of" featurette, two deleted scenes and a brief parody segment of MTV Cribs featuring Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI of France. The Region 2 DVD version, including the same special features, was released February 26, 2007. No commentary is available for the DVD. In France, the double-disc edition included additional special features: Sofia Coppola's first short movie Lick the Star and a BBC documentary film on Marie Antoinette. A collector boxset, Coffret Royal, was also released in France and included the double-disc edition of the movie, Antonia Fraser's biography, photographs and a fan. The Japanese edition was released on July 19. This two disc edition includes the same extra features as the North American release though it also includes the American, European and Japanese theatrical trailers and Japanese TV spots. A limited edition special Japanese boxed set contains the two disc DVD set, a jewellery box, a Swarovski high-heeled shoe brooch, a hand mirror, and a lace handkerchief.