There is no way that this movie could be used as a historical source in regards to the French Revolution, but I don’t think it was Soffia Coppola’s intention to make it that. I think she wanted to convey to people the lavish and extravagant lifestyle of the French court under the Ancien Regime and the changes that the Revolution bought, and I think she did that very well! I loved the beautiful clothes, the breathtaking scenes she decided to use and just the brilliance of colour. I cringe a little bit at the inaccuracies, but that is only because I am much more familiar with the events of the French Revolution than the average film-goer, since I’m intensely studying the French Revolution one part of one of my subjects.
Marie Antoinette never did say “Let them eat cake” when she saw her impoverished subjects outside the protective walls of Versailles, instead, she is recorded as saying "It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness." A far cry from “Let them eat cake”! It was so unfair for what Marie Antoinette was blamed for! It was not her fault that she didn’t give the Louis XVI a son until 7 years into their marriage! She was not involved in the Diamond Necklace Affair- she tried to change her ways and cut back her extravagant lifestyle, but no one took notice of that because people were too convinced of all her wrongly accused crimes to the French people and country, known as the "Madame Deficit" and “l'autrichienne”. Sure, she was strongly religious and therefore opposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 179, was a stringent believer in absolute monarchy and scornful of the democratic principles of the revolution which emerged in 1789, but peoples’ prejudice was already deep set just by the fact she was Austrian, the natural enemy of France.
Erm. Ok. Sorry. I’ll stop my rant here.
Marie Antoinette never did say “Let them eat cake” when she saw her impoverished subjects outside the protective walls of Versailles, instead, she is recorded as saying "It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness." A far cry from “Let them eat cake”! It was so unfair for what Marie Antoinette was blamed for! It was not her fault that she didn’t give the Louis XVI a son until 7 years into their marriage! She was not involved in the Diamond Necklace Affair- she tried to change her ways and cut back her extravagant lifestyle, but no one took notice of that because people were too convinced of all her wrongly accused crimes to the French people and country, known as the "Madame Deficit" and “l'autrichienne”. Sure, she was strongly religious and therefore opposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 179, was a stringent believer in absolute monarchy and scornful of the democratic principles of the revolution which emerged in 1789, but peoples’ prejudice was already deep set just by the fact she was Austrian, the natural enemy of France.
Erm. Ok. Sorry. I’ll stop my rant here.
I love the visuals, and it doesn't matter if it lacks a plot or historical accuracy, no? When it's an image that takes my breath away, I enjoy it very much.
