Marie Antoinette - was i the only one?

EricSJorg · 10-21-2006, 02:58 AM

I just went and saw Marie Antoinette at the World Exchange Plaza in Ottawa Ontario Canada and was met with an amazing film with some rather troubling circumstances.

To start things off the projection booth had the film displaying improperly with a 5th of the movie appearing at the top of the screen. This was corrected shortly after (with 2 minutes of themovie starting).

The largest concern was the nearly 15+ shots in the movie where the Boom Mic rophone was more than clearly visible in the shots. The first most noticeable being in the scene with the Elephant and Marie's brother. The microphone drifted down nearly a 5th of the screen height into the shot. All throughout the rest of the film were scenes where the microphones drifted in and out of the frame very very noticeably, horribly detracting from what was happening.

My hopes are that this was a rare occurence and that Sophia Coppola did not intend for something this bizzare to be intentional.

Im hoping to see it again at another location to ease my mind and eyes after seeing this happen.

I hope few or no one else ran into this situation in viewing a new and wonderful film by the talented Sophia Coppola.

Adam_S · 10-21-2006, 04:10 AM

the film was threaded incorrectly in the projector (that's why you saw the bottom fifth of the movie at the top of the frame). Controls are availble to adjust for that so they don't have to stop and rethread the projector. unfortunately they maxed out the control to adjust it and didn't have room to adjust the framing. That's why you saw the boom mics, they were on parts of the image that would normally be masked out at the projector. they won't be seen if the projection staff were competent.

35mm film is recorded on prints in a 4:3 ratio. If it's a 2.35:1 film the wide image is optically squeezed into the 4:3 shape when it is printed and then unsqueezed into the 2:35 shape by mounting a special lens on a projector. If it's a 1.85 film, a full 4:3 image is recorded by the original cameras (the dp and director look only at monitors masked for 1.85 though) and is printed to each print. a 1.85 mask is fitted to the projector so only the proper framing will be shown. But if the film is mistheaded to begin with (as was your experience) you will not see the proper framing, instead you'll see the areas of the frame noone is supposed to see.

It's not the fault of the filmmakers, it's the fault of the projectionist.

You should have asked for your money back.

Haggai · 10-21-2006, 11:27 AM

Yikes, that's some incompetent projection. I saw it last night, and I sure didn't notice any boom mikes floating around!

On to the movie itself--I liked it a lot, and in fact most of it was great. There isn't much dialogue, with the emphasis more on the visuals and music. The ridiculousness and vapidity of royal life is demonstrated by the bizarre lengths that the various nobles and hangers-on will go to in attending to the young couple, who can't even get into bed without a dozen other people in the room. Separated as a tender teenager from her friends and family, as well as from her beloved dog, Marie comes under immense pressure from all sides to produce an heir, but her weak-willed husband refuses to take his mind off hunting or his obsession with keys. Major decisions of state importance are made with a wave of a hand after barely a minute's worth of discussion, amidst the ups and downs of life within the Versailles cocoon.

Kirsten Dunst is excellent in the title role, charming and funny with the masses of spoiled nobels who are always around, but also overwhelmed by the expectations of her position. Jason Schwartzmann is appropriately goofy and stiff as Louis XVI, establishing the awkwardness of the relationship between two teenage kids thrust together by their elders. The visual splendor of the real Versailles enhances the weird spectacle of life for people whose most important daily decisions consist of who they're going to speak to in the hallways, or which shoes they're going to wear.

The main criticism I have is that the ending feels rushed--it all starts to come apart for them as the revolution arrives at their doorstep, which packs a pretty startling emotional punch, but then suddenly the credits are rolling. I felt like I was "getting" where the movie was going up until that point, with the focus being on how this young girl had to become a woman under these insane circumstances, and you can feel how Dunst and Sofia Coppola were really on the same page with that, but the ending was less than satisfying to me. Still, it's well-made and very interesting to watch.

EricSJorg · 10-21-2006, 01:16 PM

well im glad to hear no one had the same experience with projection that i did. Im tempted to go back again today and get my money back now. I actually did speak with the manager that night and he said it was beyond their control and they must have obviously gotten a poor print from their distributor (which i thought was a little hard to believe).

Now that i know how the print is supposed to be displayed, and what would have caused that i have something to fight with on them.

thank you for the info regarding this, i hope so see it properly again.

EricSJorg · 10-21-2006, 06:05 PM

Success, more or less. I was allowed to see the movie again for free. That coupled with a proper projection made for an enjoyable afternoon, which allows me now not to worry that it was a horribly made film.

The movie itself did an excellent job in showing the grandeur and absurdity of life as a royal at that time. Dunst and Swartzmann both portrayed what i felt was the main point of the film being their age as King and Queen of France.

The ending did feel rushed, but given you know essentially their story and what is to happen to them after that point i feel it was an adequate ending. The abruptness of the ending works well with the concept of them being such young rulers. Essentially the film gives us a premature end to a premature rule. Though i do admit it would have been fun to see the movie end at the Guillotine.

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Patrick Sun · 10-21-2006, 09:54 PM

I'm all for showing the vapidness of what the royal life was in the times of King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, but for its 2 hour running time, I think it squandered a lot of it, and made me ambivalent to the title character, and then just ran through to the finish in a hurried fashion that left me with a "Eh?" response to the film.

I give it 2 stars or a grade of C.

Ray H · 10-22-2006, 12:43 AM

I saw it today as well. I actually think i like the trailer much more than the final film.

It's not bad, but I don't know. It just seems like it doesn't know where it's headed. There's no real overiding story. You get the sense that she needs to produce an heir, and then...that's it. Just scenes without much in the way of story advancement. The ending could've used a bit more. I didn't know much about Marie Antoinette when I went into it. Actually, I had wanted to do some reading up on her before seeing the film, but I figured I'd go into it fresh and let the movie take me along for the ride. In the end, I still needed to do some reading.

Inspector Hammer! · 10-22-2006, 06:49 AM

One question I have is why isn't this film mentioning at all that this woman was decapitated? They make it seem like a fun and light film when the woman died in a most horrific manner.

Even the title font screams Legally Blonde with it's pink letters.

Do they cover that in the film or do they skip it? My guess from the trailers i've seen is that they skip it.

Haggai · 10-22-2006, 10:49 AM

John, I'll spoilerize the answer to your question, just in case anyone doesn't want to know exactly how it ends:

Spoiler:

Henry Gale · 10-22-2006, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!

One question I have is why isn't this film mentioning at all that this woman was decapitated? They make it seem like a fun and light film when the woman died in a most horrific manner.

The whole guillotine thing is certainly a bummer to watch, but, as far as bad ways to die, almost all the other ways are way worse.