Box Office
3 stars out of 5 -- "Undeniably a feast for the eyes and ears..." 07/01/2006 p.54Premiere
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[A] thoroughly delightful and, yes provocative picture....Disguised as a confection, and most effective as a cinematic intoxicant." 10/01/2006 p.40 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[A] visual triumph....Coppola plunges us into an exotic world; she completely envelops us in Marie's daily rituals." 09/01/2006 p.100-101 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is a punk film, one to shun stuffy straightjackets much as its heroine did during her life....The soundtrack's perfect..." 11/01/2006 p.37 New York Times
"Dreamy and decadent, the film is also touching, funny and bracingly modern." 10/20/2006 p.E26 Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he work of a mature filmmaker who has identified and developed a new cinematic vocabulary to describe a new breed of post-post-postfeminist woman." -- Grade: B 10/27/2006 p.51 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "With lyrical intelligence and scrappy wit, Coppola creates a luscious world to get lost in. It's a pleasure." 11/02/2006 p.88 Premiere
Included in Premiere's "10 Best Movies Of The Year" -- "[C]lever, cheeky, and, yes, relevant." 01/01/2006 p.48 Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] heady, contemporary vision of events that vividly captures the lavish decadence and the superficiality of a snide aristocracy, all set to an eclectic pop and classical soundtrack." 03/01/2007 p.101 Reel.com 6 of 10
"Let them eat cake!" is the tagline of Sofia Coppola's gorgeous, empty-headed Marie Antoinette. The phrase, of course, has long been attributed to the young French queen who was destined to completely lose her head. She apparently never said it, but the tagline fits this lavish production as if tailor-made, for the movie is the cinematic equivalent of cake: layer upon layer of empty calories...Music is key to Marie Antoinette, which at times plays like an elaborate MTV video, and with about as much substance. Coppola did make one brilliant casting decision in having Schwartzman, her cousin, play Louis...Lance Accord's shimmering images capture the majestic elegance of Versailles. Yes, it's a very pretty picture, but this movie could have been so much more. - Pam Grady
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
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. It shows Coppola once again able to draw notes from actresses who are rarely required to sound them...Kristen Dunst is pitch-perfect in the title role, as a 14-year-old Austrian princess who is essentially purchased and imported to the French court to join with the clueless Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) to produce an heir. She has self-possession, poise and high spirits, and they are contained within a world that gives her no way to usefully express them...Coppola's oblique and anachronistic point of view shifts the balance away from realism and into an act of empathy for a girl swept up by events that leave her without personal choices. - Roger Ebert
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