Reviews

Film

Marie Antoinette

Directed by Sophia Coppola, starring Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman

An "It" girl long before the phrase was ever coined, Marie Antoinette has come to symbolize everything that was immoral and excessive about the royals who were swept aside by the French Revolution. History paints her as a frivolous waste of space whose most famous line, where she suggested that the poor would be happier if they just ate a little cake, mocked the struggles of the underclass. Sophia Coppola smelled a rat though and set out to make a biopic that showed young Marie was more a witless victim than an Ice Queen.

At only 14 years old, Princess Marie (Kirsten Dunst) was whisked-away from her native Austria to become the wife of France's King to be, Louis the Duke of Berry (Jason Schwartzman). Upon arriving at the Versailles, the teen becomes the endless target of endless gossip and cattiness from pompous aristocrats and jealous rivals. In an attempt to break the stuffy routine of daily court life, Marie and her wistful sidekicks begin to indulge in mega sessions of cake eating, champagne swilling and shoe buying. But such hedonism comes to a sudden end once the stirring proletariat gets itself organized.

Coppola's sympathetic revisionist approach probably won't win too many fans in France, where the film was booed by audiences at Cannes. Backed by a soundtrack packed with '80s post-punk bands, Marie Antoinette is a glossy, at times frustratingly indulgent but nonetheless accomplished, look at the life of this most controversial monarch. Coppola never takes her camera outside of Marie's palatial domain thereby emphasizing the insularity of her world. An allegory of current US foreign policy? In any case, this is a textured study of how shoe gazing allows those with power to remain ignorant of more pressing issues. Ben Davey

The Pursuit of Happyness

Directed by Gabriele Muccino, starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith

Containing enough examples to arm a Marxist with anti-capitalist sentiment to last a lifetime, The Pursuit of Happyness is the story of one man's struggle to keep his head above water in a money-driven society. Among the lessons served up to us are: hard work pays off, chase your dreams no matter what and fight doggedly, even if everyone else has written you off. If this sounds like clichd parental advice, it is, but this is a film that balances chin-stroking wisdom with glimpses of realism. Being a major Hollywood film, however, you always know that everything will work out just fine.

Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a smart dumb guy, meaning that he has book smarts and is ambitious but occasionally suffers from brain explosions. These include trusting buskers with his possessions and investing his family's savings into bone density machines that doctors deem too expensive. Left with a 5-year-old boy (Jaden Smith) after his wife walks out on him, Chris lands an internship at a brokerage firm. Only catch is, it pays nothing and he only has one chance in 20 of actually getting a job. As his meager savings diminish, the two race to homeless shelters by night while Chris works his behind off at the firm during the day.

Boosted tremendously by the sympathetic performances of Smith and his real life son Jaden, The Pursuit of Happyness is still a typical big budget morality tale, albeit with gritty trimmings. For every sprinkle of realism, like when the father and son spend the night in a subway restroom, there's a dollop of fantasy, such as the gentle acceptance of Chris' benevolent bosses. And with things already this desperate, was it really necessary to make Chris run all the time? Still, this is a skillfully told, wonderfully acted fable made bleak, but not so bleak as to scare away mainstream audiences. BD

(China Daily 09/05/2007 page20)