Rating:
Genre:
Soundtrack
Release Date: 10/17/2006
The way the visuals and music clashed in the first round of trailers for
Marie Antoinette, in which the teenage Queen of France and her powdered wig- and silk brocade-wearing courtiers frolicked in the garden and played dice to the strains of
New Order's
"Ceremony," fell somewhere between being exciting and contrived. The full
soundtrack to the movie -- all two discs and 90-odd minutes of it -- keeps this bold contrast, but gives it more nuance. In fact, its mix of
new wave,
post-punk,
dream pop,
electronica, and
classical pieces really sells
Sofia Coppola's vision of
Marie Antoinette as an innocent young girl, transformed into her era's version of a hipster fashionista, who gets in way over (and ultimately loses) her head. The size of the
soundtrack suggests the decadence of her times, but the way the music is actually used is far from indulgent. Disc one relies on
new wave to illustrate the giddy rush of her rise, while disc two is mostly
electronica and darker, more atmospheric
classical pieces tracing her fall with a stylish, bittersweet atmosphere similar to the
Virgin Suicides and
Lost in Translation soundtracks.
"Hong Kong Garden" kicks off
Marie Antoinette, beginning with a brief prelude that at first sounds like it escaped from
A Chamber Music Tribute to Siouxsie Sioux but then sounds utterly right, and helps make the rest of the
soundtrack's switches from
pop to
classical and back again sound inspired instead of forced; there's a lightness and playfulness in the
new wave songs that connects them to
Vivaldi's
Concerto in G. Throughout the
soundtrack,
Bow Wow Wow seems to function as
Marie Antoinette's voice: after all,
"I Want Candy" isn't such a far cry from "let them eat cake," and on the second disc,
"Fools Rush In" captures her plight perfectly. By working with a carefully selected palette of tracks by a handful of artists --
Air,
Aphex Twin (whose
"Jynweythek Ylow" has all the delicacy of
chamber music),
the Cure, and
the Radio Dept. are among the chief sources --
Marie Antoinette's daring gambit pays off in a long but exquisitely curated
soundtrack.
~Heather Phares, All Music Guide
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