UPDATE: 'MARIE ANTOINETTE' BOOED... COPPOLA RESPONDS... CRITICS ARGUE (LAT, THR, HE, AFP, NYT)

By Stephen Saito

Seems the French may not be taking to Coppola's rock 'n' roll update of their country's history. Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" was loudly booed in Cannes today as the credits rolled at the pre-premiere Grand Lumiere screening, according to Agence France-Presse and Jeffery Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere.

Wells calls the film "arguably the shallowest and dullest historical biopic of all time."

"I didn't know about the boos at the screening," Coppola said later at the film's press conference. "That's news to me ... that's disappointing to hear."

"I think it's better to get a reaction. Either people really like or really don't like -- I think is better than a mediocre response, so hopefully some people will enjoy it and it's not for everybody."

In fact, film critics and Frenchmen may not be the film's ideal audience, writes The Hollywood Reporter's Anne Thompson in her Risky Biz blog. "Any critic demanding intellectual content will wind up hungry for nourishment. I suspect that this will play best for young women. My 16 year old daughter will LOVE it."

While not a bobbysoxer, Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan also rhapsodizes about the film while Thompson talks to Coppola for THR proper about the director's decisions on "Marie Antoinette."

Writes Turan:

Ready or not, Coppola's days of being underestimated are over. First she won a screenwriting Oscar and became the first American woman to be nominated for best director, for "Lost in Translation." Now, with the quietly exuberant "Marie Antoinette," costarring the wild mixture of Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Marianne Faithfull and Asia Argento, she has even bent history to her will, disarmingly blending her exquisitely modern sensibility with a potent re-creation of the salad days of the last queen of France. This is accomplished, impressive filmmaking on both an epic and an intimate scale.

And the Reporter's Anne Thompson asks Coppola about her unique interpretation of French queen's story:

The Hollywood Reporter: Were you always interested in Marie Antoinette?

Sofia Coppola: Not really. I was always interested in 18th century France and Versailles. I was talking to my dad's friend Dean Tavoularis, who was reading about Marie Antoinette, who was only 14 when she was sent to Versailles. And her husband (King Louis XVI) didn't consummate the marriage for seven years. To compensate for that, she would go out partying and shopping. It was interesting to hear the personal side of a mythic figure. After "Virgin Suicides," I optioned (Antonia Fraser's biography) and started working on the script.

THR: Did you find the adaptation difficult?

Coppola: It was a daunting task, adapting a huge book about a long, whole life. I concentrated on the section at Versailles. It starts with her arrival at 14 and ends with the revolution, when she was in her early 30s. I took a few passes. There was so much editing to figure out what to include. I didn't want to do a standard biopic. I wanted to feel the vitality and freshness of these young people, so we feel like we're there with them for a few hours as opposed to looking back at history through varnish.

Meanwhile, A.O. Scott and Manhola Dargis have weighed in with their opinions in the New York Times. Says Scott, "I for one am happy to lose my head over 'Marie Antoinette,' while Dargis is less enthusiastic, writing, "Ms. Coppola ignores what's best about Marie Antoinette's story."

Related Links

COPPOLA'S 'MARIE ANTOINETTE': 'SORT OF LIKE 'THE O.C.' SET IN VERSAILLES' (LAT)
Coppola tackles period portrait of Marie Antoinette (THR)
Blood of a Lady (HE)
'Marie Antoinette': Best or Worst of Times? (NYT)
Borad, Babel, Marie Antoinette at Cannes (RB)