Marie Antoinette

OK, so lately I've had this unnatural obsession with researching Marie Antoinette. It originated with the viewing of the newest preview for the movie named after the woman. Now, I think the movie looks weird. It's a period piece, but the feeling given by the trailer is more akin to clueless than it is to Jane Austen or Elizabeth. It's appears to be somewhat hyperactive, actually. The cast includes Kirsten Dunst as Marie, and Jason Shwartzman as Louis XVI. I really don't like Jason, as an actor. & Kirsten has not impressed me in a very long time.

Sophia Copolla, on the other hand. . . I have seen 2 of the three movies she has released to date (but who has seen "Lick the Star"?). I loved them both. I need to give her the benefit of the doubt. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Lost In Translation from the trailer either, and I really really liked it.

Basically, what this is leading up to is, I knew very little about Marie Antoinette up until a week ago, when I watched that preview. I knew she'd had her head chopped off in France, but that was mostly because of a game called guillotine I played with Petre than anything else. I needed to know who she was. . . Wikipedia to the rescue.

I felt sorry for her. Based just on the facts of her life, she went through some pretty ridiculous things. Her parents shipped her off to France as a bargaining chip at the age of 15. She was escorted to the border of France, forced to strip down and leave everything she knew behind. She crossed the border and was re-dressed in French clothes and forced instantaneously into French life. She knew nothing of the country.

Now, it appears that she spent a great deal of her life spending the French people's tax money. & probably sleeping with other men. She wasn't a saint. But seriously. . . 15?! Maybe she was an awful person, but how can you not feel a little bit sorry for her?

I'm going to see the movie. & I won't take it as fact, but I'm interested to see what kind of take Ms. Copolla has on the subject.

That is all.