6 thoughts on “Podcast: Marie Antoinette (2006)

  1. w/r/t the wedding dress — I believe it was documented that the dress was too big for Antoinette, so the weird fit might have been intentional.

    Great podcast. Thanks.

  2. I really enjoyed listening to you ladies discuss this film- super entertaining, all of you :) I think I do have to disagree with your opinion of this film… I felt Coppola’s decision (and what seems to be far more commonplace now than otherwise) to apply a 21st Century mentality to 18th century individuals was a serious mistake, since this will shape the mainstream image of these people, to whatever extent. I understand the desire to make the characters relatable, but by disregarding so many aspects of Marie-Antoinette’s and Louis XVI’s lives, the pressure of religion, the looming danger of the Revolution (which 1st hand memoirs show did not come as a surprise) the film has the opposite effect on me. I felt I was watching a 2 hour instagram story about a vapid “poor little rich girl”, and it became very boring very quickly, and tbh disrespected some sincerely impressive historical characters. To disregard Antoinette’s desperation to maintain her marital life with Louis-Auguste, which caused legit panic for her, not merely loneliness and boredom really is a misstep. Her homeland’s political future depended on Louis not rejecting her. Many will disagree with me, but these two people did NOT live in a bubble. Physically, yes, they lived in a palace (flea-infested and dusty), but the tragic effect the deaths of 2 of their 4 children had on them is really glossed over, especially since it goes SO much towards explaining thier actions, especially Louis’ behavior in 1789. The evidence of a man destroyed by losing his eldest son to consumption, (a personality which some evidence shows to damaged by a potentially autistic childhood) affected by catatonic depression, exacerbated by the impending danger to the remaining members of his family by his own subjects, who by all accounts were considered by Louis as an extension of his own family, is so far more compelling. And is really destroyed by this film. Louis was broken by the death of his son, and Antoinette really stepped in and did as much as possible to save the monarchy, (the real crime which the trial transcripts show as the reason of her execution). Norma Shearer’s performance, sure, story is simplified and costumes are a bit too glitzy, but show far more accurately the personality of this tragic woman and the dynamic between her and her husband

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