fightin-phaeton Reviews

Marie Antoinette (2006)

Undecided, indecisive and definitely not rock 'n roll

[3/10 · 1 August 2006]

Sofia Coppola made a mistake. Who knew she could? Much has been made of the ker-azee rock 'n' roll soundtrack and modern day touches, but the thing is that Marie Antoinette just wasn't a rock 'n' roll enough to warrant this kind of treatment.

Dialogue flickers unevenly between contemporary speak and old-school archaisms. Ditto the costumes: some pink swirls here, a clashing pattern there, but all topped off with lace and severity. What's going on? And is Sofia Coppola paying attention? This is done like a portrait piece, but we never find out anything about Marie Antoinette, we just watch her react, interact and look slightly bemused. Kirsten Dunst is lovely to watch, but in the absence of any real character she amounts to little more than thespian eye candy.

Same goes for the rest of the characters, and France. Coppola decides, understandably, not to let the rest of France in. No shots of orphans, nada, just life at Versailles where the king and queen are so out of place they seem to have fallen through the wardrobe and into Narnia. It's just not any fun. And for something with this many great people in it, that sucks.

The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

This Movie's Got Legs - And Charm.

[9/10 · 17 May 2006]

For a film that's ostensibly about sex and leather, it doesn't have any right to be as oddly sweet as it is. The story of Bettie Page, a good Christian girl from the South who's momma wouldn't let her date until she married, who moved to New York and ended up becoming the most successful pin-up of her age, is driven by an outstanding performance from Gretchen Moll. Her Page can't quite reconcile the pictures that she takes (nobody's allowed to touch, it's all fun and respectful) with the pornography trials and supposed ill-effects that her images have on the world around her.

Page has been an inspiration to every burlesque artist since, not just because she had a figure to die for, but because she invested every picture with an innocent sense of fun that was uniquely sexy and simple at the same time. Rather like this film, in fact. Filmde in both black and white and glorious technicolour, it's a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.