Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette"

 

Sofia Copploa’s 2006 film “Marie Antoinette” depicts the early life of the late queen but in a modern way. To make the movie intriguing and engaging for more current audiences, she adds certain elements, both noticeable and subtle, to keep the audience attentive and have them follow the story intensely. Her vision is clear and coherent. She expresses her idea through her mise en scene. 

Storytelling can be a difficult task for many directors to take on, especially when covering a work of non-fiction. With historical movies such as these, the producers want to include the “highlights” of this person’s life, often scattered across the years. To cover these events, there is a lot of time skipping, personality changing, zeitgeist shifting, and more. All of these must be portrayed through a lens and a few actors.  

Sophia Coppola explores the life of Marie Antoinette through a more contemporary lens. She addresses her issues and challenges in a way that would make it easier for us to understand. She shows Marie as a young girl, feeling the societal pressures to act delicately and politely while fulfilling her duties as a princess. Marie is portrayed initially as delicate and weak but still in a position of power. But with that power sprouts grave feelings of loneliness. 

Coopla shows this feeling by using wide and medium shots where Marie is positioned towards the center of the room, either by herself or with a few characters beside her. She is rarely in the back of the crowd or side of the room. This can be summed up by the fact that she is royalty, so obviously, she will always be at the center of attention. However, I think this was a strategic stylistic choice by Sophia to show Marie is disconnected from her surroundings and those around her. By being in the center, she is automatically isolated from the general crowd, which can leave the character feeling vulnerable and alone. Coppola strategically placed Marie here to demonstrate how empty Marie felt and that she could not connect to the people around her and adjust to her new life. 

Coopia also showed Marie’s development as a person and leader as she got older. She acted essentially as eye candy for the early years of her life. She didn’t have many responsibilities other than to give birth to the king’s offspring, which alone proved to be a struggle. As we travel further down Marie’s life, we see glimpses of rebellious teenage years, mischief, and what would be considered “normal” adolescent behavior had it not been in a royal context. Furthermore, we see Marie engage in sneaky affairs while growing up to be a young woman and having children taking care of them while caring for her farm/garden. 

Sophia Coppola also demonstrated her cultural awareness by portraying Marie Antoinette as a more positive character rather than the greedy evil queen that people most commonly associate her with. Antoinette is a complex character, and we see her as a young girl being brought up in such a privileged and uptight world. We also understand that she was naive and was far too young to be given such heavy responsibilities. Sophia did a great job showing that Marie might not have actually been this horrible malicious individual who wanted to see people suffer. 

Overall, Sophia Coppola did a fantastic job directing Marie Antoinette; her mise en scene and vision is apparent throughout the film. I would love to see more of her work soon. 

Sources: 

Madeleine Pelling Research associate in material and visual cultures of 18th-century Britain. “Marie             Antoinette – Extravagant French Queen Has Long Been a Symbol of Female Excess.” The                     Conversation, 8 Feb. 2023, https://theconversation.com/marie-antoinette-extravagant-french-                queen-has-long-been-a-symbol-of-female-excess-181561.

Lathrop, Gail, and David O Sutton . Elements of Mise-En-Scene - City University of New York. ProseProductionSink , https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/latinxscreens/files/2021/02/Elements-of-mise-en-scene-G.-Lathrop-and-D.-Sutton.pdf.

Sharman, Russell. “Mise-En-Scène.” Moving Pictures, 18 May 2020, https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/chapter/mise-en-scene/.