Movie Review Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette (2006) 

Directed by Sophia Coppola

Written by Sophia Coppola

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, Rose Byrne, Asia Argento 

Release Date October 20th, 2006

Published November 19th, 2006 

It is very quiet.  Austrian Archduchess, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), aged 15, has just been betrothed to Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the future king on France.  Throughout the long trip from Austria to France, there is an odd expression on everyone’s face.  It’s as if the air itself is uncomfortable.  As the French court awaits Marie Antoinette’s arrival, they putter around amidst the leaves and talk amongst themselves about nothing at all.  They all seem to be thinking something to themselves.  Judging from the same puzzled expressions on the moviegoers’ faces at the screening of Sofia Coppola’s MARIE ANTOINETTE I attended, I think they might be thinking how strange the entire scenario seems.  

Everything feels a little bit slow, a little too quiet and mostly out of place.  It is too early to give up on the film at this point.  After all, this is Coppola’s follow-up to the haunting, offbeat LOST IN TRANSLATION.  We are in good hands.  This uneasiness must be in step with what Marie Antoinette is going through.  Once she finds her footing, I’m sure she will break out of her shell and show these French folk how to live freely and the film will follow.  Well, Marie Antoinette, the person, gets the hang of it but sadly, MARIE ANTOINETTE, the movie, never does.  It remains hollow and aimless, leaving me wondering how Coppola could have been happy with it.

Coppola took a decidedly different and brave approach to chronicling the woman who became the queen of France at age 19.  She cast American actors in French roles and did not have them speak French or even with an accent.  She boosts the soundtrack with 80’s new wave music instead of music of the period.  The choices are meant to highlight the lonely plight of Marie Antoinette, to show that her emotional journey is timeless.  

Only Dunst shows hardly any emotion in the title role so there is nothing to take away.  She can handle isolated and she can party with the best of them but she doesn’t show any turmoil or inner-conflict.  It doesn’t help that Coppola’s script features naturalistic dialogue either.  People rattle on about nonsense and gossip but rarely ever say anything of note to each other.  Perhaps this is what Coppola had intended to show but meaningless conversation needs to give insight into a character’s mind at the very least.  Here, all the minds are empty.

If it weren’t for the fashion and the food (and the fortune that must have been spent on making everything look so lavish), there would be nothing at all to focus on.  For such famous historical figures, very little actually seems to happen to them.  For what seems like half the movie, the entire plot focuses on how Louis won’t have sex with Marie Antoinette.  It is certainly a pressing matter as an heir has to be produced in order to validate their marriage.  If it is not consummated, it may even be annulled.  

When the “great work” was finally done, Marie Antoinette is elated but there is no explanation as to why it was so difficult to begin with nor does it seem like it became any more frequent afterwards.  Her brother had a chat with the future king and that supposedly did the trick.  There is no mention as to what that chat was about so your guess is as good as mine as to what finally turned him on.  

Historically, Marie Antoinette became the scapegoat for France’s increasing deficit.  Whereas the majority of France’s money had been sunk into the 7 Years’ War and aiding the Americans in their struggle for independence from England, the masses pointed their fingers at Marie Antoinette’s frivolous spending.  She went from an adored queen to being chased from her palace.  The build that led to that change must have been tumultuous but Coppola leaves history at the door while very little happens inside.  By the time the mob shows up to drive her and the king out, it feels more like a device than a moment in time.

I can see why the French booed at Cannes.  MARIE ANTOINETTE is a calculated project that was troubled since its conception (Coppola abandoned it during the script writing process to create LOST IN TRANSLATION because she wasn’t sure how to make it work).  The deliberate disregard for historical accuracy may have been valiant to start but finished feeling labored.  Coppola’s previous works relied on emotion more so than dialogue to get under the skin of the viewer.  

Their success announced great promise for MARIE ANTOINETTE but Coppola lost her edge somewhere among the hundreds of pairs of Minolo Blahniks custom made for the film.  A lesser director would not have taken such an ambitious approach to this story.  A lesser director would have made a film far worse than this one.  May MARIE ANTOINETTE be but a misstep along the path of a brilliant career.

Movie Review The Break Up

The Break Up (2006) 

Directed by Peyton Reed 

Written by Jeremy Garelick 

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, Judy Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Favreau

Release Date June 2nd, 2006 

Published June 1st, 2006 

When Jennifer Aniston split with Brad Pitt she had the sympathy of the celebrity obsessed world. Pitt left Aniston for his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie who in her looks and manner is the perfect villainess foil to Aniston's all american girl. Sympathy however, does not mean much at the box office. People may have been annoyed with Pitt and Jolie for breaking poor Jenny's heart but that did not stop audiences from making Mr. & Mrs. Smith a box office blockbuster.

The sympathy has done little for Aniston's own films. Both the thriller Derailed and the high profile romantic comedy Rumor Has It were box office non-starters and this spring's Friends With Money was barely a hit by small scale indie standards. Aniston's box office troubles should end with the new comedy The Break-Up, co-starring new beau Vince Vaughn, but that does not mean that Aniston's astonishing career slide is anywhere near over. The Break-Up is a dyspeptic, almost angry anti-romance featuring two lead characters more unlikable than most horror film villains.

In The Break-Up, Aniston plays Brook, an artist who works in one of Chicago's swankiest Gallery's. While attending a Cubs game, Brook meets Gary (Vaughn), a bus tour guide, who boorishly forces an unwanted hot dog on Brook and her loser date before accosting and encouraging her into dumping the boyfriend for him.

Two years later the fastidious Brook and the disorganized Gary are living together in a beautiful condo but all is not well. Ego-centric Gary cannot seem to do anything but play video games and leave his clothes on the floor. Brook on the other hand, cannot stop nagging Gary about the ballet, doing the dishes and other such activities he hates and she enjoys. A major meltdown following a dinner with their respective families leads to a break up. However because both Gary and Brook are on the condo lease neither wants to move out. Worse yet for Brook, she does not want to give up on Gary and the relationship.

This is where I part ways with the picture. Aniston's Brook seems like a reasonably sane person. When she breaks up with Gary she has a number of good reasons for doing so, and yet, the film forces her to hope that he will simply apologize and they can get back together.This renders Brook a rather silly person. At one moment she’s standing up for herself against a slovenly and seemingly uncaring partner and the next she’s forced to whip herself into wanting to stay with the guy. 

Gary is never anything other than obnoxious, self centered and egotistical. He never shows an ounce of caring for Brook, aside from the opening montage of photographs over the credits that serve as the couple's two year backstory. He is a major jerk who puts a pool table in the dining room the day after the break up and follows that up with a stripper party in the living room to make Brook jealous. The film gives neither Brook nor us a reason to like Gary other than the fact that he is played by Vince Vaughn. That is just not enough, unless you believe Vince Vaughn is god's gift to women.

That said, Brook is no prize either. Just simply wanting this jerk back is off putting enough but the way she parades men through the apartment to make Gary jealous is just sad and pathetic. Watching her I wanted to call in Dr. Phil to sit Brook down for a talk on self esteem and bad judgment. Hurting Gary’s feelings is not something I cared about but the guys she was using for that purpose were innocent bystanders. It’s just not funny watching her so obviously use these men for such unseemly purposes.

Peyton Reed is a fascinating and challenging director. His Bring It On was a tart little comic truffle with more bite than you expect from the teen comedy genre. And more interesting, his Down With Love was a stylish, ballsy attempt to recapture the camp romance of the fifties Doris Day-Rock Hudson flicks. Neither Bring It On or Down With Love succeeded fully but both films are risky in ways most mainstream films are not.

The Break-Up too is risky in very unexpected ways. The film has a very serious edge to it. A very unexpected level of realism comes in the arguments that Vaughn and Anistons characters engage in. The fights sound like real couples arguments and not the cute banter of the usual rom-com. The fights are nasty and personal in the ways only intimate partners can be. This is very bold but also very out of place. Fans showing up for light funny romance tinged with Vince Vaughn's usual acerbic wit and outlandishness will be dazed and confused by the film's daring realism.

What is good about The Break-Up? There are a number of very funny supporting characters. Jon Favreau, as Vaughn's best friend, steals a couple scenes by giving Gary some awful advice. And John Michael Higgins, best known as one of Christopher Guest's regulars, is funny as Brook's in the closet brother who sings pop tunes acapella with his singing group 'The Tone Rangers'.

Both Favreau and Higgins characters are funny in individual scenes but they are so far apart from the central plot that they are almost from another, far funnier, movie. When The Break-Up takes its major turn toward drama in the final act both Favreau and Higgins are left behind and nearly forgotten. There is no place for their broad characters in what suddenly and quite unfortunately becomes a nasty and borderline abusive situation. 

I cannot forget to mention the brilliant Vincent D'onofrio who plays Vaughn's brother. D'onofrio is a mess of ticks and gestures in a role similar to his Law and Order Detective character but gone to pot. Disheveled and disturbed, D'onofrio makes this oddball character the most likable person in the entire film in just a few scenes. He too is lost in the wake of the film's dramatic turn and the film is worse for his loss.

Both Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are naturally likable actors. However, in this film not even their maximum charisma can overcome the nastiness that is at the heart of The Break-Up. The film is far too mean spirited and angry to be entertaining. The ad campaign positions the film as a so-called anti-romantic comedy, whatever that means. The film is certainly anti-romantic but it's also anti-humorous and anti-entertaining.

I credit the film and especially director Peyton Reed for being daring but the mixture of broad comedy and the nasty realism just doesn't come together. The characters are too poorly sketched and rely far too heavily on the real life likability of Vaughn and Aniston. As characters Gary is an egocentric dick and Brook is a simpering wimp. There is nothing romantic or comedy in this pairing. It's just sad.