Marie Antoinette
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Movie Reviews of Marie Antoinette
Movie Review: Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman
Summary: 5 Stars
During the last week, I saw two movies with the same title that both focuse on the life of the last Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). Both films start when Marie is 15 and she leaves her beloved Vienna to marry the future Luis XVI, the Dauphine of France, one year her senior. Unlike the Coppola picture, W.S. Van Dyke's 1938 film, takes the royal couple through their imprisonment and all the way to the guillotine. The final chapter of Marie Antoinette's life from July 1789 until her execution in 1793 is filled with losses, falls, and deepest tragedy. We witness an unsuccessful attempt of Royal family to leave the country which brought both, the King and the Queen to the trial for treason; execution of her husband on the guillotine, separation from her son who was taken from her on the very day of Louis XVI's death, brought to court to testify against her, and died in captivity when he was 12 years old. She herself was accused among the other things in sexual abuse of her son. To this horrible accusation, the former queen, "the Widow Capet" or simply "Antoinette Capet" replied with the genuine royal dignity, "If I have not replied it is because Nature itself refuses to respond to such a charge laid against a mother..."
As much as I did not like Sophia Coppola's boring horror in pink, I truly enjoyed the old film which was released on DVD for the first time on October 10, 2006. The movie made almost 70 years ago has everything right. With 157 minutes of the run time, it moves and breezes freely. It is lavish, staggering grandeur that perfectly represents the golden days of Hollywood and I am sure it still will attract and amaze the viewers many years from now. There are multiple reasons for it. One of them is the intelligent script based on the famous biography by Stefan Zweig, "Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman" which focuses on the human emotions of the ordinary people who happened to live and die during the extraordinary times. The love scenes between Marie Antoinette (Norman Shearer) and the Swedish count Axel de Fensen (Tyrone Power -just imagine the young Alain Delon but more passionate) are exquisite and emotional without being overtly sentimental. Acting also must be mentioned. Everybody shines in the film starting with powerful and extravagant Louis XV (John Barrimor) to whom belongs the famous phrase, "After me, the deluge." It turned out to be prophetic. Louis XVI (Robert Morley in his film debut practically stole the show and earned the nomination for the Best Supporting Actor), the grandson of Louis XV, reaped the whirlwind sown by his predecessors, and was swept away in the French Revolution--even though he himself was relatively modest, unassuming, and moral. Louis XVI as played by Robert Morley would've made an excellent locksmith. He would've been an obedient and loyal citizen and perhaps a happy father of the family somewhere in the quiet province. Instead, he had became the King of France who would end his days on the guillotine. Joseph Schildkraut is marvelous as the snake-like intriguing Philippe Joseph II, Duke of Orléans who had changed his name to Citoyen Philippe Égalité, supported the French Revolution, voted on the National Assembly for the death of the king but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror very soon after Louis XVI. Norma Shearer is very convincing playing a naïve average young woman in a beginning of the movie and she makes you forget that she was 20 years older than Antoinette in the first scenes. As her character matures and changes, her performance changes, too, becoming heartbreaking and very touching in the last scenes. The "Last Supper" scene is simply unforgettable with both Morley and Shearer at the peak of their acting abilities.
I can go on for long time praising a competent directing, masterfully created set and decorations, attention to the small details, moving and believable intimate scenes and historical accuracy - any way you look at it, "Marie Antoinette" (1938) is a triumph of filmmaking and I highly recommend it.
Movie Review: A Living Emotion
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are reading these reviews I assume that you are trying to decide whether or not to purchase this film. What I can tell you is this: if my house were on fire, of the over 1100 videos and DVDs therein, this is the one I would rescue. I first saw MA in 1957 and fell in love with Norma Schearer because of it. It was the film that defined my standards for films and started my life-long love affair with the movies. If I were teaching film to students, this would be required viewing because even today, the technical standards remain the finest. It is the apotheosis of the art of film making and should be cherished just for what it is. This is a "prestige" film from MGM, and this type of film was made to increase the prestige of the studio with little regard for the expense, or concern for return on investment. They didn't care if it would be popular. What did happen was film magic, and without computer-generated imagery. It should also be appreciated for the many-layered delineation of the title role by one of Hollywood's most capable actresses--Norma Schearer, who had been in films almost from their very beginnings. This is her tour-de-force performance; she IS Marie Antoinette. I am always amazed that she is more well-known for her role in THE WOMEN, since this is a much more demanding, and riveting endeavor. Near the end of MAYTIME, John Barrymore says to Jeanette MacDonald, "Tonight you surpassed even yourself; they are calling it a 'living emotion'". And that's what happened here. It is rare magic to see such delineation of a character by an actor; at the moment I can only recall Vivien Leigh's Scarlett, and Bette Davis' Charlotte Vale (NOW VOYAGER) for being as textured and defined. Norma worked very hard on this part--she wasn't known as "queen of the lot" just because she had been married to Irving Thalberg. She had to work at overcoming a cast in her left eye, that is never apparent even in her close-ups, and she had to get it right the first time, because Van Dyke (not her choice for director) did not coddle female stars, and was known as "one-take Van Dyke". Of course the concert of artists and technicians contributed their expertise to this period piece too. Costumer Adrian had been in Europe for 3 years searching for authentic materials for her gowns and even when he did find some, since they were silk, they had rotted on the bolts and had to be rewoven. (There was no polyester in the 18th century!) Adrian also refused to use rhinestones on his headpieces and gowns. When Power sees Schearer standing on the stairs of the gaming house (for the first time), those are real diamonds in her hair and on her gown! Only a few select seamstresses were trusted in sewing on those diamonds, and in removing them from the dresses when the film was finished--and they were counted both ways. Such extravangances were not seen again until 1963's CLEOPATRA, when Sharaff made the cloth of gold gown for Elizabeth Taylor, and is unlikely to happen ever again. This film is a true classic and my definition of a "classic" is any film you can watch over and over and it is just as good each time. Schearer's Antoinette is a magic carpet ride to the 18th century and now you can go there any time you want.Movie Review: EVERY FILM ACTOR, EVERY DVD COLLECTOR MUST HAVE THIS FILM
Summary: 5 Stars
Leave the new KIRSTEN DUNST music video alone, and RUN purchase this extraordinary, just released, 1938 film with Norma Shearer as the French queen.
If you want to know where Meryl Streep got her acting technique from, watch Shearer. Yes, there are moments, mostly when she's required to 'enter' a scene, when she's over-directed - but one must remember this was almost seventy years ago, and talkies were only a decade old. The majority of her screen time is a master class for film actors: her choices are stunningly complex yet exquistely simple and truthful. They will leave you, literally, momentarily breathless. It is difficult to grasp, by the end of the movie, that the actor playing the young Hapsburg princess is the same actor awaiting execution. One knows it's Norma Shearer, but she somehow has actually aged before our eyes, without the help of heavy makeup or props. The journey from Vienna to Versailles, to the Conciergerie to the Place de la Concorde is made by an actor whose ability to show her character's soul transforming, moment to terrible moment, defies comparison or explanation. The sole performance which comes close to this is perhaps Vivien Leigh's in STREETCAR, but that would come nearly twenty years later and even it, like much of Streep's work, seems 'mannered' when referencing Shearer's Marie.
The film is a wonder of imagery and restrained scoring - and the DVD transfer immaculate. The supporting cast, with the exception of a beautiful but rather wooden young Tyrone Power, is a dream. The discreet scale of the sets and the luminous costumes make the point that we are in another world, without overpowering us - the way the modern film does. This is also thanks to the extraordinary power of silver nitrate film stock, which has never been equaled since - in color or black and white. The script is poignant, smart and brutally honest.
Every actor, desiring to work in film, should buy this to study Shearer's seemless work. Every lover of history should purchase this for the remarkable job it does shedding intimate light on such a chaotic time. Every movie collector must own this DVD, for it contains - at its incandescent center - one of the greatest renderings of a human being's frailty, strength and suffering.
Movie Review: Perfect transfer
Summary: 5 Stars
This would have to be one of the best transfers of a 30's Hollywood movie. Adrian's extraordinary costumes (a tour de force in costume design), Billy Daniels artistic b/w cinematography and the full MGM art direction all seem to come to life. I have never seen anything like it.
Even though it is has been only of late that I have admired Ms Shearer - taking some liking to her precodes - her performance in this movie is a tour de force in itself. A very under-appreciated performance. Ostensibly Shearer researched the character extensively, and apart from looking a little unconvincing playing a 15 yr old Marie, she manages to excel in the remainder of the film. Her presence in the last reel is memorable.
MGM house costume designer Adrian reached his apotheosis. The stunning transfer allows one to see even the minutest details in the costumes. They all seem to sparkle (and I am not over-praising here).
Director W.S Dyke is no auteur like a Renoir or a Gance, and the direction is pedestrian MGM style, a studio in which production values took precedence over artistic directorial style. One can imagine a more stylistic interpretation with a director like Cukor or Manoulian.
However, one must ignore the poverty of direction and emphasise on the production values and performances (Morley is excellent too as Louis). MGM even filmed at Versailles and imported authentic period antiques.
The movie is loosely based on a 1933 revisionist historical account on the life of Marie Antoinette. This is definitely not a socialist (left wing) interpretation. L B Mayer was a stern conservative and it is easy to ascertain with whom he sympathised.
Movie Review: BEAUTIFUL MOVIE - EXQUISITE PRINT ! ! !
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those films that you either love or loath - I've loved it for years, and never saw such a beautiful print. The detail (and this lavish movie is all detail) has never been as visible. It's truly breathtaking. PLUS; There's the Overture, Intermission, and Exit music! As many times as I've seen MARIE ANTOINETTE, I'd never heard that music - and it is a terrific treat (The intermission music even has a song set to the love theme - and a "heavenly chorus" with a tenor!).
This is an unbearably romantic and sentimental re-telling of the tragic queen. It IS NOT HISTORY, but pretty close - if you want history, read one of the many superb biographies.
I've always thought it to be Norma Shearer's finest preformance (her agony when her son is taken from her is truly heartbreaking - Shearer is superb!). Power is almosty as beautiful as Shearer - Eye candy!
Barrymore's small roll is the best of his later work. Morley is simply superb. The photography GLOWS!
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THE COPPOLA TRASH - ABYSMAL OFFAL!
This treasure is MGM at it's grandest and most lavish - We'll NEVER see anything like it again.