MovieChat Forums > Marie Antoinette (2006) Discussion > Am I the only one bothered by this?

Am I the only one bothered by this?


I'll start out by saying I don't think this is a good movie. That's not because I think it's not historically correct but because it's a sad, dull movie. I don't like that the dialogue is often mumbled, I don't like how slowly paced it is, I don't like the overly subtle performances, and I don't like that the 80s soundtrack breaths no extra life into the movie making it simply out of place. But one thing that I think is the most "wrong" was the portrayal of Marie Antoinette and Louis VI's relationship. The movie does nothing to create any kind of emotional connection to them or even to Louis as a character on his own.
There's plenty of historical evidence that, while it distant at first, the two of them grew to have a deep love for each other. Louis stepped outside of rigid French ceremony for the sake of Marie and their family more than once. During the difficult birth of their first child, he torn off the tapes that sealed the windows to keep MA from fainting. The delivery room was full of courtiers, as was custom, but the pair of them stopped that for the births of their other children. Another big deal was that Marie wanted a say in educating their children, and Louis supported her, breaking with an important tradition. Plus he gave her Petit Trianon which became her refuge away from the court, a place that was very important to her. There's evidence that she loved Louis, too. My guess is that she evidently saw his allowances for her to have many freedoms as a sign of love and then returned it. Here's a quote from a French historian who witnessed MA's reaction after Louis went to Paris after storming of the Bastille:
"This princess, as virtuous as she was amiable, whom monsters later on accused of having never loved her husband, was absolutely in despair. As soon as she heard the King's carriage entering the Cour Royale she ran towards him holding the Dauphin in her arms, then breathless and almost fainting she fell into those of the King who was no less moved than she was. Holding out one hand to his children who covered it with kisses, with the other wiping the tears from the eyes of Marie-Antoinette and Madame Elisabeth, Louis XVI smiled again...he kept on repeating: 'Happily no blood was shed, and I swear that not a drop of French blood will ever be shed on my orders.'"
Plus, She absolutely refused to leave him when things went badly for them and refused to eat or do any exercise after he died. So yeah, the complete void that should have been filled by an actual relationship in the movie does really bother me.

Sell yourself just cash in -Jewel

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[deleted]

I really liked the look of the movie and the music didnt bother me but I would have liked the charactors in the movie to be more like their real counterparts.I hated the way sophia portrayed Madame dubarry. It was just plain stupied. Dubarry wasnt anything like this portrayal not physically or ortherwise. Also the guy playing Louis XV, great actor but reminded me nothing of the man that I have read countless biographys of. I dont understand why sophia felt the need to stereotype the charactors, had she made them closer to who they really were she would have had a much better movie.

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[deleted]

I agree with the OP and disagree with you. The movie was like watching "Sex in the City, Fashion in the 18th Century". Talking about a movie about the fashion and indulgent royal lifestyle. I was a little o.k. with the movie because I saw a kind of a unique spin to it but there just wasn't any real intelligent history added to this movie at all to which after a while left me watching a drab dull movie and then to get to the end...was a big wash out. The movie is about Marie Antoinette and it didn't even show her to the end. This was a poorly written and directed movie. You can take a not so good actor and with the help of good people that is behind the scene, you can transform it into a great movie. BTW the movie wasnt title "Louis-Auguste".

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[deleted]

Okay, so this was posted years ago so I don't know why I'm responding now but whatever.

I guess I do prefer bombast over subtlety but that's not the same as being a fan of big budget Hollywood movies. For one, I generally don't watch too many movies anymore and tend to stick to TV shows and I don't think I'm missing anything. Also I don't need big explosions or sex or whatever to keep me entertained but I like to feel a connection to the characters in the story. The fly on the wall perspective distances the audience from the characters, I think. When Marie is having care free fun, it should be exciting because she feels excited. When she's feeling sadness, we should feel sad. When she's scared, we should be scared, too. But I don't feel any of those things because of the distance. That's why I just can't get behind this movie while I actually really liked A Royal Affair, for example. As an audience member you're always with the characters, and it's easy to feel for them even if they're doing questionable things.

So when I'm consuming a story I have to care about the characters to like it and I just don't with Marie Antoinette.

Sell yourself, just cash in -Jewel

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YES! The fly on the wall treatment SHOULD make us MORE connected to the characters... we are seeing what the general population doesn't, possibly what even the servants didn't (which admittedly, wasn't much).

At first, I was tempted to blame the more modern music (and those songs are among my fave), but really, the story (and thus the Director) didn't manage to build a connection between the audience and her protagonist, or any of the other characters.

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The relationship between Louis and Marie was not done well. The only hint we have of it is when she stated she was going to stay with her husband after the revolution began. I wonder if their relationship is so complex that it is too difficult to get right in a film. Even the 1938 movie didn't go as deep as it could though they did convey that they had deep feelings for each other.
This movie was just all around shallow the actors played charactures and stereotypes and Kirsten was so bland it was equal parts boring and annoying.

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Wait, let me get this straight.

You don't care that the movie wasn't historically accurate.. yet you're bashing it because the relationship between Louis and Marie Antoinette wasn't depicted historically accurate?

Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will meet no more.

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but I hardly think bashing =/= taking issue with a movie. I'd probably like the movie if it was better paced and it used the soundtrack better. My issues with the historical inaccuracy are not the movie's my glaring issue by my estimation. That was my point.

Sell yourself, just cash in -Jewel

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