Sofia Coppola's film of bow, curtsies, gown, cakes, delights, dresses, booze and all that teenage-hood would have to be the year's most misunderstood film, as much as Marie Antoinette herself was probably the most misunderstood monarch in the face of history. As wrongly perceived by other people as boring and droning, this film, it proves that most did not understand its message in its very core, like most of us barely understand what teenage-hood is all about. This is Marie Antoinette. Welcome to her world. Meet the 14-year-old girl from Austria who was bought by the French monarchy to wed the soon-to-be King Louis, the girl who ruled the whole nation in the early age of 18. Well, what do you expect, she's all just a girl after all, not a fit queen as one might put it.

This is actually one of the year's very best films. Engrave it to the Oscar's trophy the Best Costume and Make-Up, surely this film would grab it, and it would be unjust if it would not be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and even Best Actress nomination nod for the brilliant, pitch-perfect Kirsten Dunst. Sofia Coppola does her fair share of majestic job in here, putting her own understanding and vision to this historical figure, not adapting it in a way politically but sidestepped all the economic dillemma and political conundrum and rather resurfaced the film through Marie Antoinette's own eyes, making it one of the best made teenage films of all time. Sumptuous as it was, Marie Antoinette was a feast to the eyes with the lovely cinematography and set design, blunt filmmaking and deep resonance.

It starts with Marie in her own home in Austria getting dressed, getting informed that the peace between Austria and France should be sealed in marriage, and that she was being sent to France to marry the innocent and passive Louis. She rode in a luxurious carriage, she was being escorted perfectly, she was forced to say goodbye to her friends, even to her dog, and was stripped down naked to test her virginity. Now she came out with a new dress, the new her. There was a lot of brilliantly constructed scenes in this one, especially when Marie Antoinette first entered Versailles like a child gawking before the scenery, sleeping in a very large bed, being the centre of gossip attraction.

Just like Coppola's former great films like The Virgin Suicides (which also stars Dunst) and Lost In Translation, there a lot of scenes that are silent where cinematography was bound to rule and spread its wings. It's an irony but only in this scenes of silence that the characters were able to show their emotions and in this moment we completely understand how crucial it is to have scenes like this. We see visuals again like the sun, the landscape, the grasses, the fields, in which Coppola is famous of, especially Dunst walking in the grasses with her hand whisking the flowers; very reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides. She also uses mood and lighting to express the emotions of the film like in the balcony moment where Marie spreads her arms in leverage before the people, and she also did a great job in constructing the final scene where Marie was leaving the palace, Versailles rolling against the background, with her haunting final words, "I want to say goodbye." In real history, she's to be beheaded, but Coppola brilliantly thought that the film isn't about political and historical context, but rather about who learned the greatest lesson in life after all.

But what really make this film great was it's very effective balance of idealistic filmmaking. Coppola had focused on the story of a girl who was forced to face the world of hipocrisies and great responsibilities, and just threw away the whole I-am-a-queen-therefore-I-shall-rule-this-monarchy type of story. It reflects on everyone of us, younglings, who are bound to grow up on our experiences and at the same time, hey, adults could never really blame us to be so negligent most of the times because we are teenagers for Christ's sake.

Marie Antoinette will go down to history's best teenage films, and no matter how people will say how anachronistic this film could get, with a plot based on 16th century France and has a contemporary musical soundtrack. Marie, as what Coppola believes, is a contemporary girl living in the 16th century France, so it does not matter why "Whatever Happened" by The Strokes was played. It sounded brilliant and it highly reflects the film's essence of contemporary realism. Probably, this boasts one of the year's best soundtracks too.

This is arguably a classic film, and I will stick with that always.

Rating: A