Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette is a 2006 historical drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is based on the life of Queen Marie Antoinette, played by Kirsten Dunst, in the years leading to the French Revolution. It won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It was released in the United States on October 20, 2006, by Sony Pictures Releasing. Plot Fourteen-year-old Maria Antonia, the youngest daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria, is a beautiful, charming and naïve archduchess. In 1770, she is sent by her mother to marry Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France, to seal an alliance between the two rival countries. Maria, her name now changed to Marie Antoinette, travels to France, relinquishing all connections with her home country, and meets King Louis XV of France and her future husband, the Dauphin. The betrothed young couple arrive at the Palace of Versailles and are married at once. They are encouraged to produce an heir to the throne as soon as possible, but the next day it is reported to the king that "nothing happened" on the wedding night. As time passes, Marie-Antoinette finds life at the court of Versailles stifling. Her husband's courtiers disdain her as a foreigner and blame her for not producing an heir, although the fault really lies with her husband, for the marriage remains unconsummated for an inordinate amount of time. The French court is rife with gossip, and Marie-Antoinette consistently ruffles feathers by defying its ritualistic formality. She instead spends much of her time with the few friends she has in Versailles, including the conservative Princesse de Lamballe and the flamboyant Duchess of Polignac.