Eleanor Coppola died in 2024, but her footage of the making of 2006’s $40 million production, Marie Antoinette, which was directed by her daughter Sofia Coppola, lives on in the new documentary, Making Marie Antoinette.
Marie Antoinette was a huge production, which got to film at the Palace of Versailles, and everybody was hoping Sofia Coppola could carry the huge film on her shoulders after the success she had with Lost in Translation, a film for which she scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Instead, Sofia got bronchitis on the set of Marie Antoinette, and had to deal with challenging crew members who tried to offset some of her decisions regarding the handling of key scenes in the 2006 picture. Still, a good time was had making the big-budget movie, even if Sofia admits in the documentary that she prefers making smaller films where she has more creative control over the final outcome.
What kind of things does the director of the documentary, Eleanor, focus on? Pretty much everything. You see, during the pandemic, Eleanor was able to assemble the footage she shot, which shows Sofia’s interaction with the mostly male production team, as well as the challenges of bringing such a complex historical figure to life.
Kirsten Dunst is essentially the most loyal teammate that Sofia had on-set outside of Sofia’s immediate family members. Dunst had a great challenge bringing the role of Marie Antoinette to life, but she succeeded in the 2006 movie, even though the film itself was something of a critical and commercial disappointment, earning only $15 million domestically.
Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman also worked on the movie, Marie Antoinette, and the film shows Roman coming to Sofia’s side on the production end while Schwartzman acted the part that Sofia has cast him to play. Watching Dunst and Schwartzman in the bed in-between takes makes for a humorous moment in the documentary.
Eleanor Coppola talks about how her daughter, Sofia, had been able to bring her distinct vision to life with Marie Antoinette, which is something Eleanor truly admired. Sofia has thrived in a male-dominated profession, but on this particular film, she seemingly faced more challenges than she did on any other production.
Diane Lane speaks the voice of Eleanor throughout the documentary. Lane’s very unique narration makes the movie feel like it’s coming from Eleanor’s heart. Francis Ford Coppola even makes an appearance in the documentary, admiring what his daughter is doing while glad he’s not part of the production team for the movie.
Though the costumes for the film won the Academy Award, the rest of Marie Antoinette was all over the place and it’s easy to see why through watching this documentary. Obsessions about completing the production on time and within budget plagued Sofia and the crew.
There are some great things about the documentary, Making Marie Antoinette. They include the fact that we see firsthand why the movie couldn’t have been as great as Sofia wanted it to be.
Sofia’s visions for the project versus the production team’s input on the 2006 film often created problems. For example, Kirsten Dunst was inexplicably in the wrong wardrobe attire one day on the set of the movie.
In a fun moment, Sofia humorously calls out the male crew members for working on the most “girly” project possible, Marie Antoinette.
Everybody who has seen the 2006 movie knows that it didn’t get everything right, but the sheer ambition of Sofia to take on such a challenging project is what makes her one of the most distinguished and ambitious female directors working today.
Making Marie Antoinette is Eleanor Coppola’s love letter to her daughter, Sofia. Eleanor worked in reverse order, starting with motherhood and working her way back into making films, which she wanted to do with a passion.
There is a lot of Eleanor’s quirkiness featured in the documentary as we are told she wandered the set of Marie Antoinette, looking for interesting things to film. She did, indeed, find enough to make a memorable film in this small little gem of a documentary.
Making Marie Antoinette is a compassionate look at the difficult efforts that Sofia made to ensure she did the best job possible, making the 2006 picture under some very challenging circumstances
While the ending of Marie Antoinette seems to have left a lot from the history books out, that fact is a bit more forgivable because of the details that the documentary, Making Marie Antoinette, sheds significant light on. It is a very highly recommended film.
Making Marie Antoinette is currently streaming on MUBI.
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Thomas Duffy
Thomas Duffy is a Critics Choice member who has written film reviews for most of his life, starting at age 11 when he crafted his first full length movie critique on the film, "Roxanne," a Cyrano story featuring Steve Martin. As a result of that review and other movie obsessive writing, Thomas was awarded a creative writing award in sixth grade. Thomas is the proud author of nine books, including two highly acclaimed novels, "To Never Know" and "Social Work." Thomas can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) or at a New York City movie theater watching the latest hit or independent movie. You can also run into him at Tribeca or at the New York Film Festival.