"Let them eat cake," she said...

...just like Marie Antoinette.

Talk about a belated post. I saw Marie Antoinette in Oxford on Thursday October 26th, the day before my formal interview (in which I apparently did well) and the afternoon before the dinner, which didn't count towards the interview (much to my surprise, actually) but gave me an opportunity to learn stuff about the College and to demonstrate that I actually knew more about Somerville college's namesake than many (possibly even most, but I didn't verify that) of the people currently associated with the place. (It helps that Mary Somerville was an applied mathematician and that I was thus even more interested in who she was than I might have been, so I did my research.)

Anyway, I was exhausted that day because I hadn't slept at all the night before and I was feeling too tired to be in the mood to explore the city (it's a good thing I'll be able to do more of that later). I was also too tired to read part of the random matrix theory book for the class I audited this term, so I decided to see a movie I was planning to see anyway.

I suppose it's worthwhile to comment on the theatres in Oxford. They're a bit more expensive than mist theatres in the U.S.---I think my ticket cost along the lines of $12.50-$13---and the screen was around the same size or perhaps somewhat smaller than what we'd see in a Laemmle. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my work. :) (A couple days later, I noted an independent theatre near Oxford University Press, so I'll let you know about that theatre when I see something there.)

As for the movie, it was decent but not great. This is a Sofia Coppola movie, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that it moved rather slowly. Unfortunately, it did not have the charm of Lost in Translation, so it really dragged on at times. Moreover, "Love Vigilantes" was never actually used in the film even though it was featured in the first teaser. For shame! Some of the songs that actually were employed helped out the film for me, because I love the anachronism between the songs (many from the 80s) and the setting.

Jason Schwartzman was amusing as Louis XVI, although he's not who I would have cast. The jumble of accents really got on my nerves. Louis XVI was a Frenchman with an American accent, Marie Antoinette was an Austrian with an American accent, and the others in the court had various types of European accents. It was all so inconsistent. I think if different people had played Marie and Louie (i.e., people who had or could at least fake "European" accents), I wouldn't have noticed the rest of the incongruity so much because the centerpiece of would have been gone. As it was, however, I found this whole business very distracting. Finally, who Kirsten Dunst was a very poor choice, and she never visibly aged during the entire film despite the fact that it takes place over multiple decades. Ugh! There are any number of people who would have been better in this role: Keira Knightley, Kate Beckinsdale (an Oxonian, as it turns out, though she apparently didn't actually graduate), etc.

Anyway, the movie was entertaining and it is good, but it should have been great. A lot of potential was wasted.

(Now I only have 4 movies, 1 Reduced Shakespeare Company performance, a couple books, and a CD or two to review and I'll be all caught up with my reviews. Well, I don't review every book or CD I read the way I come close to doing with movies, but there are a couple I want to discuss.)