YMMV / Marie Antoinette (2006)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The film portrays Marie Antoinette as a lonely and unhappy young woman who immerses herself in fashion and frivolity to distract herself from her problems.
• Awesome Music: Featuring Bow Wow Wow, Adam And The Ants, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Chances are that you remember the film for the famous scene, where Marie Antoinette is all naked on a couch aside from some stockings, holding a hand fan and covering her ... tracts of land. There are posters for only that scene, even! Hell, it's on the soundtrack cover.
• Cult Classic: The film was not a great hit commercially or critically, but does have a few dedicated fans who enjoy its gorgeous costumes and sets, as well as its quirky and more sympathetic take on the life of Marie Antoinette.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The film eventually shows that Marie's ignorance of what's happening in her country will have negative results, especially when the revolutionaries march on Versailles. But the various montages showing all the cake, gambling, dancing and frivolity sure make you forget about that part.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Yolande de Polastron, Duchess of Polinac. She's mostly there as one of Marie's consorts, but Rose Byrne brings her to life and perfectly captures the frivolity of such a woman.
  • Madame du Barry is one of the more remembered characters in the film, despite vanishing after Louis XV dies.
• Funny Moments:
  • On the Special Features— "Cribs with Louis XVI". Jason Schwartzman in character taking the viewer on a tour of Versailles.
  Louis: That's all crystal, 100% crystal, not Cristal!
  • The dressing ceremony. Marie Antoinette is forced to stand stark naked in her cold bedroom, surrounded by her elegantly dressed ladies in waiting, who try to get her clothes to her, only to be interrupted when someone of higher rank walks in. According to etiquette, the privilege of handing things to the Dauphine belongs to the highest ranked lady in the room, and therefore it takes three ladies (who take their sweet time) until Marie finally gets something handed to her.
  Marie Antoinette: This is ridiculous.
  Countess of Noailles: This, Madame, is Versailles.
  • While at dinner, Madame du Barry gets quite drunk and belches at the table, all the while complaining that no one treats her like a lady. Apparently that was an ad-lib by Asia Argento.
  • Marie is told that she has to speak to Madame du Barry or else risk losing favour with the king. So the next time she sees her, she takes a while before commenting on how there are a lot of people there today, and walks away telling her ladies-in-waiting that those will be the last words she ever says to her.
  • During her birthday celebrations, Marie needs her hairdresser on hand to stop her from lighting her hair on fire when she sits too close to a candle.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • The film received a more positive reception in France, though not unanimously.
  • It did especially well in Japan too, grossing $15 million there.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • A two-fer for Madame du Barry:
    • Her status as the king's mistress is uncomfortable when Asia Argento revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein and then later had consensual sex with him over the years.
    • The character being something of a pariah in Marie's eyes is oddly reminiscent of Asia's own rape allegations surfacing in 2018.
  • Kirsten Dunst would have to check herself into rehab just two years after the film's release, although actually for depression rather than the reported drug and alcohol abuse.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Jamie Dornan playing the queen's kept man is quite amusing in light of his more famous role in Fifty Shades of Grey, where he's the one with money and power seeking a kept woman.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The costumes, shoes and jewellery are the parts of the film that have endured the most in pop culture.
• One-Scene Wonder: Marie Antoinette's Camp Gay hairdresser, who helps style her hair into a magnificently high monstrosity.
• Presumed Flop: The film is often talked about as though it were a disastrous bomb. While it wasn't a smash hit, it grossed $20 million more than its budget at the Box Office (its budget was $40 million, which wasn't inflated during production, and the gross was $60 million). It even won an Academy Award for its costumes.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Rose Byrne had already made her debut in Troy, but is more recognisable nowadays for the X-Men Film Series prequels, Bridesmaids, Neighbors (2014) etc.
  • Jamie Dornan in his first film, years before Once Upon a Time, The Fall (2013) and of course Fifty Shades of Grey.
• Signature Scene: The Good-Times Montage set to "I Want Candy" seems to be one of the most remembered parts of the film. It includes the famous shot of Converse sneakers.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Marie arrives at the border and must go through a ritual where she bids goodbye to anything Austrian about her. She must say goodbye to her friends that travelled with her, never to see them again, and have her beloved pug Mops taken from her.
  • The birth of Louis's nephew is a happy occasion, but Marie knows that this means bad news for her reputation as being unable to secure her marriage with an heir, so she excuses herself to her room to cry hysterically.
  • The scene where Marie sends her Ladies in Waiting away.
  • Louis and Marie's last meal in Versailles. The way she reaches over and grabs his hand to comfort him is heartrending.
  • The Royal family being loaded into the carriage, as Marie tries desperately to calm her screaming infant son. The small smile Louis gives his wife while in the carriage, as both realize they will most likely be executed very soon.
  (Marie looks wistfully out the window taking in one last glance of Versaille)
  Louis: Are you admiring your lime avenue?
  Marie: (smiling but with a tear in her eye) I'm saying goodbye...
• Tough Act to Follow: It was said that this film couldn't match the success of Lost in Translation, despite being developed long before it. The latter was even something Sofia Coppola developed because she was having trouble working out Marie Antoinette's screenplay.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Marie Antoinette continuing acting like a teenager well into her 30s rubs some people the wrong way
• Vindicated by History: Considered a Follow-Up Failure for Sofia Coppola at the time, and criticised for the Anachronism Stew stylism, it has now found its audience years later and been re-evaluated for its bold visual style, sympathetic look at Marie Antoinette and influence on contemporary works such as Bridgerton. Likewise, with the lukewarm reception to some of Sofia Coppola's subsequent films like The Bling Ring and The Beguiled, this one is held up more as an example of her playing to her strengths as a director.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The film's visual style and costumes were met with almost unanimous praise, even getting an Academy Award for costume design.

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