A ‘dazzling’ film that won an Oscar and has a cult following is now available on Netflix. Marie Antoinette is a 2006 historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Sofia Coppola. 

Based on the 2001 biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser, the film chronicles Marie Antoinette‘s life in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, won two awards at Cannes, and was nominated for three BAFTAs. The film stars Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, alongside an ensemble cast, which includes Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, Rose Byrne, Asia Argento, Molly Shannon, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston, Steve Coogan, and Jamie Dornan in his film debut. Coppola said her highly stylised interpretation was deliberately very modern to humanise the historical figures involved. She admitted to taking great artistic liberties with the source material, and said that the film does not focus simply on historical facts – “It is not a lesson of history. It is an interpretation documented, but carried by my desire for covering the subject differently.”

Although it was filmed at Versailles, to capture the splendour of eighteenth-century royal life, some critics took issue with or did not understand why Coppola intermixed period music with contemporary music, for instance, using soundtracks by artists such as the Cure and the Strokes, or why she intermixed modern products, such as Converse sneakers, with formal period shoes.

Although one historian explains that while they may be distracting, “they also convey the rebelliousness of a young woman, frustrated, bored, isolated, and yet always on display.” It has also been called a “misunderstood masterpiece” by the Pinnland Empire.

Marie Antoinette received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. The film holds an approval rating of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 218 reviews with an average rating of 6.10/10.

The website’s critics consensus states, “Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style completely takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola’s vision of the doomed queen.”

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four. He stated that, “every criticism I have read of this film would alter its fragile magic and reduce its romantic and tragic poignancy to the level of an instructional film.

“This is Sofia Coppola’s third film centering on the loneliness of being female and surrounded by a world that knows how to use you but not how to value and understand you.”

In the French trade journal, Le Film Francais, a third of the critics gave it their highest rating—”worthy of the Palme d’Or”, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Marie Antoinette is now available to watch on Netflix.