Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by mr grits (A) on October 22, 2006 at 17:48:24

A visual confection and apology for Marie Antoinette, an innocent, Austrian teen sent to the court of high pretension for marriage. We meet Marie as she is bound over to France to marry young Louis who is more interested in making keys, studying locks, and the hunt than producing an heir. We see her gradual slide into decandence out of boredom and an unfufilled marriage. Interestingly, she reads in a Parisian newspaper, "Let them eat cake", and replies to her ladies in waiting, "I would never say that!" (It does make one think about the gillions of historical quotations we've all heard before.)

Surprisingly, Schwartzman did well deadpanning the less than alert or brilliant Louis. Dunst did well giving a more "contemporary" slant to her character than matched the contemporary soundtrack. And I was shocked the see 60's warbler, Marianne Faithful, playing Marie's mother and looking very elderly. But, it all worked.

This effort was sumptious in its art direction, costuming, and cinematography. Almost too much so but it help to cover the real lack of meat to the story. The film began to really drag near the end and ended somewhat abruptly with everyone's head intact as they fled Versaille

Grits: the other white starch!