影片简评

戛纳电影节金棕榈奖的角逐尚未开始，候选人索非亚·科波拉的新片《绝代艳后》(又译《玛丽-安托瓦内特》)无论是否能拿此大奖，却已经在法国引起沸沸扬扬的争论。本片可以说是科波拉迄今为止最野心勃勃的一部影片。每一个镜头都是对眼睛的爱抚。华丽的服装，美轮美奂的宫殿，都带给我们古老而梦幻般的气息，这是在她以前的影片中看不到的。她能够在一个镜头中给我们传达如此之多的信息。科波拉善于讲述美丽的故事，现在看来这部影片中故事似乎没有眼睛的触觉重要。从观看影片的第一刻起，我们就很清楚的看到本片是一个比经典的简·奥斯汀的影片更具有迷幻魅力的展示精美服装的影片。可以说从视觉效果上来说这是科波拉最成功的作品。而本片的摄影师Lance Accord用粉红色的基调给我们营造了一种柔美的蜡笔画的气氛，使影片更具有超现实的风格。

　　如同在她先前的影片中一样，科波拉十分注重细节。很多镜头似乎静态的画幅。但是和她先前的《迷失东京》和《处女自杀》不同，精美的服饰掩盖了叙事的空洞。科波拉似乎是试图勾勒一种需索无度的放纵人生，只不过是用了时代错位这样一个暗机关。本片是典型的科波拉风格，一个年轻女人无法辨识成人的世界。不过有一位不愿透露姓名的法国批评家形容本片：“枯燥的空壳，不知道戛纳的评委为何会选它，观众们将观看到镀金的十八世纪的贵族生活，空虚，吃喝玩乐，再空虚厌倦。虽然厌倦和填补心灵空间是电影的小技巧，科波拉在《迷失东京》(lost in translation)中处理得很好，但对于本片却是彻底的失败。似乎玛丽-安托瓦内特就是如今的帕里斯·希尔顿等豪门艳女之流”。

　　此外，电影原声主要是摇滚音乐，对白虽是英文，但也分成了美式、英式和法国口音。不过有人认为摇滚音乐是一种唤起历史的方法，因为本片并非是要伪装成那段历史。要求对白都是纯正的法语也很荒唐，因为如果是十八世纪的法语，即便现在的法国人也很难听懂。

　　对于原作的引用，科波拉没有阅读经典的史蒂芬·茨威格关于玛丽-安托外内特的人物传记，而是选用了更具有人物触感的安东尼娅·弗雷泽的作品。

　　还有拍摄的主要实景地是凡尔赛宫，为何我们能看到美轮美奂的凡尔赛宫，还得感谢慷慨的法国政府，因为是法国政府特许了本片的实景拍摄。

In the revisionist "Marie Antoinette," writer-director Sofia Coppola and actress Kirsten Dunst take a remote and no doubt misunderstood historical figure, the controversial and often despised Queen of France at the time of the French Revolution, and brings her into sharp focus as a living, breathing human being with flaws, foibles, passions, intelligence and warm affections. The movie slices through the cobwebs of history to seek the heart of the young Austrian princess whom 18th century political diplomacy thrust into a maelstrom of court intrigue and poisoned personal relationships without even asking if she minded.

This is not a portrait, even though it is based on Antonia Fraser's biography "Marie Antoinette: The Journey," that will play well in France. Here she is a favorite villainess. Nor will the film be an easy sell in other territories, where Coppola's contemporary sensibilities and dialogue may feel anachronistic. The film certainly is far afield from her popular "Lost in Translation" even though both films concern characters that suffer anxiety and ennui from cultural dislocation.

The film opens here this week, where it can expect mixed to hostile reactions from critics, but may possibly intrigue moviegoers keen to see a different version of well-known events. When it opens domestically Oct. 13, Sony will have to shrewdly market the film to pull in a young crowd for whom Marie Antoinette is a figure in a wax museum.

One more comparison to "Lost in Translation": Marie Antoinette's protracted arrival in her new home in France and especially the Palace of Versailles indelibly expresses the young woman's discomfort and loss of bearings just as Bill Murray's arrival in Tokyo. Each is a stranger in a strange land of unfamiliar and even upsetting customs.

The problem Coppola confronts is that Marie Antoinette is a protagonist to whom things happen. She has little if any control over her destiny other than to indulge, famously, in a decadent lifestyle and cavort with her ladies in waiting in Le Petit Trianon. News, tragic or otherwise, arrives by messenger, and those around her are either wily or unwise.

Coppola's solution to this dramatic handicap is to conspire with her star to achieve an empathetic portrait of a life spent in a gilded, vast prison. Most of the movie is shot in and around Versailles. Sometimes scenes occur on the very spot of the actual events. It's hard to imagine this picture even happening without the cooperation of the French government; mere sets were never going to get the job done.

What the history books tell us about Marie Antoinette's lavish lifestyle, with her rising each morning to a retinue of women who dress her, the movie correctly sees as an indignity: Who wants to get dressed in front of virtual strangers?

The marriage at 14 to her husband, Louis (Jason Schwartzman), the Dauphin and heir to the throne, creates the central relationship of the movie. The young man's unwillingness or inability to consummate the marriage for an astonishing and awkward seven years inspired gossip and derision, mostly directed at the undeserving Dauphine. An undercurrent of malicious chitchat becomes a kind of white noise in many palace scenes.

Dunst radiates innocence even as she is losing that innocence. She transfers her love to pets and, when children finally do arrive, to the babies. She refuses to relinquish her willfulness or determination even though these traits do not stand her in good stead at Versailles.

Schwartzman gives a wry and funny performance as a man even more ill suited to his historical role than his wife. The movie never gets to the bottom of his difficulties and indifference, wisely resisting the temptation to impose a modern interpretation on this relationship. Instead, Coppola hews to her heroine's point of view. In the final reel, the couple does achieve a maturity, only to be cut short by angry mobs and revolution.

Terrific performances litter the film: Rip Torn's Louis XV, a shrewd man with hearty appetites of flesh and stomach; Asia Argento as his sultry and crude mistress, Madame Du Barry, despised by all but her lover; Steve Coogan as the courtly Austrian ambassador, who tries to steer Marie Antoinette through the tricky shoals of court politics; Danny Huston as her favorite older brother, the only male with whom she has any real rapport; and Marianne Faithful as her politically astute mother, Maria Teresa. Unfortunately, the movie never quite does justice to a Swedish count, played wanly by James Dornan, whom the Queen takes as a lover.

The costumes, dazzling shoes and jewels are pure pleasure to behold, and Lance Acord's cinematography keeps things simple no matter how lavish the settings. The bursts of rock music on the soundtrack often takes you out of the picture, but this is an indulgence one easily grants to Coppola, who otherwise achieves a harmonious blend of history and contemporary perceptions.