Darcy Hunter

Sofia Coppola's Latest: "Marie-Antoinette"

Just saw this trailer for her latest film starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, and I have to say that I'm now pretty interested in it. It's just a teaser (it doesn't come out until fall '06) but the contrast of a period setting with the use of New Order's Age of Consent has me pretty curious as to what she has in store.

Check it out...

Marie-Antoinette teaser

Steve Felix

I'm excited. It's clear that Coppola's sensibilities are in full effect, period movie or no. Plus, Lance Acord and some other members of the Lost in Translation team are back for this.

"We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!"
Flickr photos

TheLongshot

I was waiting for Adam Ant to appear in the film...

Jason

My DVD Collection

David Williams

For a lot of films, the word 'teaser' is synonymous with 'trailer' but this film truly delivers a teaser, for both good & bad. I have no idea what to expect of this film, only that I feel that the director's last work was extremely over-hyped (an ending would have seriously helped!)

In general, I'm not a huge fan of mixing modern music with period settings and I think this teaser used it to it's detriment. The only film I've seen where I did enjoy the mix was Moulin Rouge because the elemental fantasy of the musical helped to mask the typical jarring nature of the effect.

It's really hard to tell where Sofia Coppola is going with this film... is she going to portray Marie Antoinette as misunderstood... or a total bitch? or somewhere in between? Jason Schwartzman seems an atypical, but interesting choice to play Louis XVI.

Too many questions, too few answers. I hate teasers, but I guess it's better than the trailer that tells the whole story (ala Dreamer the Wonder *ick* Horse)

"Only two things are infinite––the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." ––Albert Einstein

Steve Felix

How can LiT be over-hyped when everyone says that? Well, except me. I love, love that movie.

She's almost certainly going the "misunderstood" route with Antoinette; it's based on a sympathetic book. Schwartzman is Coppola's cousin, by the way, so...

"We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!"
Flickr photos

Kyle_D

Well that certainly left an impression.

Not sure whether it's good or bad, but it's an impression.

Gregory Vaughan

I always dislike when people criticize a movie as overhyped. How does the hype have any bearing whatsoever on the quality of a film? The film is exactly the same whether a film receives any hype or not, but when that's what a person focusses on, I always think they've let the publicity machine cloud their judgement instead of judging a film on its own merits.

Edit: Sorry, I forgot to comment on the topic at hand. I did think the modern music was distracting in the teaser, but of course we have no idea whether that's representative of the actual film or not. It's hard to know from the teaser what the tone of the film will be. However, I generally like Coppola's films, so I'll probably go see it.

Kyle_D

The film might be the same, but your perception of it won't be. Hype alters the way you process a film since you're primed with expectation of what the film should be and what it shouldn't be. You might not be able to take note of the film's merits since you're looking for others that aren't there.

The problem with LiT was that it was built up to be this flawless masterpiece about people connecting, and when half the film turned out consist of static shots Scarlett Johannson and Bill Murray sitting alone in their hotel rooms, a lot of people were left disappointed. Also, just about every critic ruined the moment where Bill whispers in Scarlett's ear, so it didn't have the same effect on audiences that it had on them.

Frankly, I couldn't really appreciate LiT until my third or fourth viewing of it last year, removed from all the hype.

andrew markworthy

Are we sure this music is going to be in the final film? I've lost count of the number of times I've heard The Who's Baba O'Riley used over early preview trailers and it's never in the final cut of the movies. It's a common ploy of studios to put familiar music with trailers to engender a feeling of psychological warmth towards the new product. Pavlovian conditioning, you can't beat it.

I'll be interested to see how they portray Marie Antoinette, because there is enough ammunition on either side to make her a total bitch or a misunderstood victim of her class and upbringing. I think a reasonable analogy is Jackie Kennedy, who can be made into saint or sinner depending on how you choose to select events from her life.

If Sophia Coppolla shows the same deftness of touch she did with LiT then we could be in for an extremely good movie. SC was very unlucky not to get the big prize for LiT. In any year that there wasn't an epic movie or something about mental illness up for the big prize, LiT would have walked away with the award for best picture.

Darcy Hunter

Yes, you are absolutely right. I guess I wasn't really expecting to hear the song in the actual movie, but I get a sense that she's going for a more playful and loose approach to the film regardless of what kind of music she chooses to use. That's probably what I was responding to because I'm alway a bit weary of period dramas, no matter how much critical praise is heaped on them. The recent Pride & Prejudice is a good example. I know if I actually sat done and watched it I would probably enjoy it, but these types of films always have an air of "watch it, it's good for you" to them which sometimes turns me off. However, "A Night's Tale" used modern music, and I found that to be distracting. Sofia Coppola's music taste is more in line with mine I guess.

todd s

I am going to pass....I know how it ends.

Bring back John Doe! Or at least resolve the cliff-hanger with a 2hr movie or as an extra on a dvd release.