After two critically acclaimed features — The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation — filmmaker Sofia Coppola dove into the past for a highly stylized portrait of Marie Antoinette. Coppola provided a sympathetic look at the teenage queen most famous for her extravagant lifestyle and bloody death.
The resulting biopic is certainly original, sharing the same lush camera-work of her other films. Whether, though, the film is any good is a matter of debate. Marie Antoinette’s FCQ (Film Contentiousness Quotient — info here) is 51.28 — pretty high.
For me, the debate is whether Coppola’s gifts as a maker of gorgeous films makes up for her weakness as a storyteller. And I’d say it doesn’t in this case. The film was wonderful to look at, but unforgivably boring. Coppola should stick to strong source material, such as Jeffrey Eugenides‘ Virgin Suicides. So, that’s one vote in the negative column — have your say!
Here are a couple opinions from Criticker users.
mikeparasol: “A beautiful film, filled with drama and absurdist humour. Superb sublime performances from Dunst (usually terrible) and Schwarztman. The soundtrack is perfect, matching the atmosphere of the film.”
FitFortDanga: “Coppola is so focused on creating a contemporary context for Marie Antoinette’s life — intentional anachronisms, modern speech and mannerisms, hip soundtrack, unorthodox casting choices — that she forgets to imbue her film with emotional content. It plods along, going “Check it out! A song by Gang of Four!Converse sneakers! Asia Argento!” but rarely gives you a reason to care about what’s happening. And Dunst really does kinda suck as an actress.”
Last week’s poll is closed, and by a whopping 72-27% margin, Dumb and Dumber has been pronounced GREAT.
And just to prove that we don’t always have to disagree, here are two more films that are the opposite of contentious:
Unanimously Crap (FCQ 2.01): Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. CGI renderings of beloved childhood memories, GET THEE GONE. You’re ruining my life.
Unanimously Sweet (FCQ 2.77): Touch of Evil. Starting to notice that all unanimously great films are from long ago?
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