Marie Antoinette

Aroview: Girl wonder Sofia Coppola lets a fetching Kirsten Dunst eat cake (and then some) as a reluctant Queen in late-18th century Versailles, stifled by the protocol and responsibility of French royalty, while simultaneously enamored by the wealth of riches at her disposal.

A thinly veiled allegory for the vacuous lifestyles of the modern day socialite or heiress, the film paints a similarly vacant portrait of Antoinette’s teenaged exploits, including regular parties, pampering, fashion therapy and the occasional girl’s night out, while greatly sympathizing her documented struggle to conceive a heir to the throne. However incandescent Dunst is in the titular role though, this is an otherwise slight biography of the queen’s troubled rule, even if the various stylised postmodernisms (including a refined contemporary soundtrack) lend a certain humanism to the history. Most decadent of all is the production design, awash with haute couture and accessorised by some truly opulent cinematography.

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