‘Marie Antoinette’ at 20: A peak behind the velvet curtain

Sofia Coppola was once robbed. The burglar broke into the first floor of the director’s New York townhouse, scanned an array of expensive framed artworks on her wall and made their choice. It was a little surprising.

The thief decided to steal a set photo of Coppola’s 2006 movie, “Marie Antoinette.” In it, two extras stand in a large white tent, dressed in designer Milena Canonero’s pastel Oscar-winning costumes, snapping a photo on a digital camera.

“It’s so funny because you can watch the surveillance camera and the guy looks around and around and that’s the thing he takes,” said the creator of the image, Andrew Durham, a photographer, producer and close friend of Coppola’s, in a video call. “Like why? I don’t know. It’s such a random thing.”

Maybe the robber was a film student. Or at least had an active Tumblr account in the 2010s — where Durham’s intimate behind-the-scenes photographs of Coppola’s third feature film had fostered a cult audience.

Fascination around Coppola’s stylish, sympathetic biopic of the Dauphine of France has hardly waned in the 20 years since its release. So much so, it’s hard to envision the film’s once rocky start. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 the movie was booed by viewers and panned by critics. The Guardian called it “baffling and historically obtuse,” while Slate said Coppola was “as nostalgic about the ancien régime as ‘Gone with the Wind’ is about the antebellum South.” Much of the outrage pivoted on the film’s disinterest in accuracy, from the new wave romantic soundtrack to the American accents. It didn’t help that Coppola had been granted unique access to actually film inside the Palace of Versailles, a privilege some believed was totally wasted. The movie covered its production costs at box office, but not much more.

Courtesy Andrew Durham

It didn’t go entirely without industry recognition, however. Canonero won the Oscar for best costume design for her froo-froo pastel creations in 2007, and the movie even took home the Cinema Prize of the French National Education System at Cannes — a surprising bolt of irony, considering many initial complaints were leveled at the film’s departure from historical events. Some critics did get on board with Coppola’s vision, and praised her accordingly. But over time, the tide has turned completely.

Now, “Marie Antoinette” is lauded as the film that launched a new chapter of vibes-based period dramas, legitimizing directors more interested in conjuring a mood than chronicled truth.

The film has taken on a more mythologized afterlife beyond its initial release, becoming a cultural shorthand for gilded loneliness and the young queen a melancholic symbol of girlhood. Last year, London’s V&A museum staged a multi-roomed menagerie of the young queen’s clothes, shoes and bedroom furniture, as well as Canonero’s costumes and a collection of contemporary runway pieces that took inspiration from the Dauphine herself. Curator Sarah Grant said the showcase “wouldn’t have been possible” without Coppola’s movie. This week, Versailles opened its own exhibition, more tightly focused on the film; while next month , “Marie Antoinette” is set to receive a full theatrical re-release to celebrate 20 years.

If that wasn’t enough, fans can now re-live life on Coppola’s set through not one, but two pieces of media that immortalized every pannier and pastry. The first is Durham’s enormous collection of point-and-shoot film photos, and the second is the late Eleanor Coppola’s behind-the-scenes documentary, “Making Marie Antoinette,” released next month.

Durham took 1,872 photos, to be exact, across 52 rolls. The final book, published this month by Important Flowers, is a curated selection of around 400 images. “I was really there just to document the production for Sofia,” Durham said. “Just for our archives, so Sofia and I could have all these snapshots.” He flew out from Los Angeles to Paris, crashed on Coppola’s sofa and traveled with her each morning to set. “Luckily for me, no one was doing what I was doing, and nobody cared,” he said. “I just walked around with my camera and sort of did my thing,” he added.

His ‘thing’ was often zoning in on the pleasingly incongruous, particularly moments where 18th century dress clashed with early 2000’s tech — Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman in full costume using an Apple PowerBook, or sharing headphones plugged into an iPod Classic, or extras in powdered wigs smoking and talking on a brick phone.

Columbia/American Zoetrope/Sony//Shutterstock

How Marie Antoinette became the most fashionable queen in history

Durham’s pictures were first published by Vogue France, and then other magazines around the world became interested — they were licensed at first legally, with the help of a syndicate agent he had proactively sought-out. Then, after the invention of social media, the photos popped up anywhere and everywhere. “We had no control over them,” he said.

The images have been printed onto bootleg T-shirts and circulate endlessly on the internet. “I’d see this photo of Jason and Kirsten on this Vespa, it was everywhere,” he said. “And I was like, I don’t know how people got it.”

Part of the reason Durham believes these photos have had such a long tail is the fact they act as a kind of “time capsule.” “This movie was shot the year before the iPhone came out,” he said. “I think that says a lot about what these images represent.” There’s also an undercurrent of indie sleaze zeitgeist. “Maybe for young people they represent this cool older movie,” Durham added. “It’s kind of fun seeing these actors when they were younger and everyone’s smoking and it evokes a different era.”

There is something debauched and luxurious about Durham’s photos, and not just because everyone in them is dressed as French aristocrats guzzling champagne and popping bon-bons. Today, the US film industry has battled a downward spiral with around 30% unemployment since 2022 according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Studios are making significantly fewer movies than even just a few years ago, and declining film budgets mean it’s hard to get a film financed at all — let alone money for extra niceties. “When I arrived in Paris, I felt like the film set just mirrored the court of Versailles,” said Durham. “We would have these fabulous long lunches… Then it spilled out into our weekends and days off.” Photos of the cast and crew dancing at Le Baron, their “go-to hangout,” are peppered throughout the book — including a bleary-eyed photo of Coppola in the wee hours of the morning locked outside the apartment because Durham lost the keys on the dance floor. “We were all just a bunch of kids having fun in Paris,” he said.

Courtesy Sofia Coppola

Durham’s approach to documenting was different to that of Eleanor Coppola, the late documentary filmmaker who died in 2024 and Sofia Coppola’s mother, who filmed her own version of events on set. Sofia and Eleanor Coppola began working on the commemorative documentary together while quarantining together during 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, with Sofia ultimately finishing the film following her mother’s death.

“She was one of the most stealth people,” said Durham. “My process was more just going out and befriending people.” His pocket-sized Contax TVS3 meant he could snap photos quickly in a way that wasn’t intrusive, he said. “Eleanor, she was tucked away and so quiet, you don’t even know she’s there. Her process was so different, it was like a fly on the wall.”

Eleanor Coppola captured over 80 hours of footage from the movie’s time in production — recording intimate moments on set including her daughter’s brief flares of frustration with man-splaining colleagues, or Dunst’s polite ambivalence at being filmed for an additional project in-between takes. But more than just letting fans re-experience “Marie Antoinette” through a candid lens, the documentary allows viewers to see the whole thing from a mother’s singular point-of-view. Actor Diane Lane narrates passages of Coppola’s own diary throughout the film where she recalls the immensity of witnessing her daughter’s professional and creative ambition first-hand.

The final shot of the documentary shows Dunst luxuriating in a bathtub reciting one of history’s most fictionalized quips — “let them eat cake.” It was, fittingly, the last scene filmed on set in Versailles. Eleanor Coppola’s narration tells us that Sofia was astonished that they not only managed to finish the film, but also do so on time and on budget. Small-scale wins that pale in comparison to the film’s place in cinematic history.

“I don’t know if people can afford to make movies like that,” said Durham of Sofia Coppola’s masterpiece. “This really feels like the kind of movie that has gone out of style.”

With contributions from CNN’s Bianca Betancourt.

索菲亚·科波拉曾遭遇过盗窃。窃贼闯入这位导演位于纽约的联排别墅一楼，扫视了墙上琳琅满目的昂贵画作，然后选定了目标。这多少有些出人意料。

窃贼决定偷走一张科波拉 2006 年电影《玛丽·安托瓦内特》的片场照。照片中，两名临时演员站在一个巨大的白色帐篷里，身穿设计师米莱娜·卡诺内罗设计的获得奥斯卡奖的柔和色调服装，正在用数码相机拍照。

“这太搞笑了，你看监控录像，那家伙四处张望，最后就拍了这张照片，”照片的拍摄者安德鲁·杜伦（Andrew Durham）在视频通话中说道。杜伦是一位摄影师、制片人，也是科波拉的密友。“为什么？我也不知道。这完全是随机的。”

也许劫匪是一名电影系学生。或者至少在 2010 年代拥有一个活跃的 Tumblr 账号——杜伦在 Tumblr 上发布的科波拉第三部电影的幕后花絮照片培养了一批忠实粉丝。

科波拉这部风格独特、充满同情心的法国太子妃传记片，自上映20年来，人们对它的喜爱丝毫未减。以至于很难想象这部电影当初遭遇的坎坷。2006年戛纳电影节上，该片遭到观众的嘘声和影评人的猛烈抨击。《卫报》称其“令人费解，且对历史一无所知”，而《Slate》杂志则评论说，科波拉“对旧制度的怀旧之情，就像《乱世佳人》对南北战争前南方的怀旧之情一样”。这场风波的焦点主要在于影片对历史准确性的漠视，从新浪潮浪漫主义的配乐到美国口音，无不体现出这一点。雪上加霜的是，科波拉获得了在凡尔赛宫内拍摄的独家许可，但一些人认为这种特权完全被浪费了。影片的票房收入勉强收回了制作成本，但除此之外，几乎没有其他收益。

承蒙安德鲁·杜伦惠允

然而，这部电影并非完全没有获得业界的认可。卡诺内罗凭借其粉彩风格的华丽服装设计，荣获2007年奥斯卡最佳服装设计奖，影片甚至在戛纳电影节上斩获法国国家教育系统电影奖——考虑到影片最初因偏离历史事件而饱受诟病，这无疑是一种令人惊讶的讽刺。一些影评人确实认同科波拉的创作理念，并给予了相应的赞扬。但随着时间的推移，风向已然彻底转变。

如今，《玛丽·安托瓦内特》被誉为开启了氛围型时代剧新篇章的电影，使那些更注重营造氛围而非记录真实历史的导演们获得了认可。

这部电影在上映后被赋予了更多神话色彩，成为一种文化符号，象征着奢华的孤独，而年轻的王后则成为少女时代忧郁的象征。去年，伦敦维多利亚与艾尔伯特博物馆（V&A）举办了一场多厅展览，展出了年轻王后的服装、鞋履和卧室家具，以及卡诺内罗设计的戏服和一系列以王太子妃为灵感的当代时装。策展人莎拉·格兰特表示，如果没有科波拉的电影，这场展览“根本不可能实现”。本周，凡尔赛宫也举办了一场更聚焦于电影的展览；而下个月，《玛丽·安托瓦内特》将进行全面重映，以庆祝上映20周年。

如果这还不够，影迷们现在可以通过两种媒体重温科波拉片场的生活，这两种媒体都记录了片场的每一个细节。第一种是杜伦收藏的大量傻瓜胶片照片，第二种是已故的埃莉诺·科波拉的幕后纪录片《制作玛丽·安托瓦内特》，该片将于下个月上映。

确切地说，杜伦用52卷胶卷拍摄了1872张照片。最终成书的这本画册由Important Flowers出版社于本月出版，精选了约400张照片。“我当时去那儿其实只是为了给索菲亚记录拍摄过程，”杜伦说，“只是为了我们俩的档案，这样我和索菲亚就能拥有这些照片了。”他从洛杉矶飞到巴黎，借宿在科波拉家的沙发上，每天早上都陪她去片场。“幸运的是，当时没人做我做的事，也没人关心，”他说，“我就拿着相机到处走走，做我自己的事。”

他喜欢捕捉那些令人愉悦的不协调之处，尤其是 18 世纪的服装与 21 世纪初科技碰撞的瞬间——比如克尔斯滕·邓斯特和杰森·舒瓦兹曼身着全套戏服使用苹果 PowerBook，或者共用一副插在 iPod Classic 上的耳机，又或者戴着假发的群众演员一边抽烟一边用老式电话打电话。

哥伦比亚/美国佐特罗普/索尼//Shutterstock

玛丽·安托瓦内特如何成为历史上最时尚的王后

杜伦的照片最初刊登在法国版《Vogue》杂志上，随后世界各地的其他杂志也开始关注——起初，这些照片是通过合法授权获得的，这得益于他主动联系的一位代理商。然而，随着社交媒体的兴起，这些照片迅速在网络上铺天盖地地出现。“我们完全无法控制它们，”他说道。

这些照片被印在盗版T恤上，并在网上不断流传。“我到处都能看到杰森和柯尔斯滕骑着Vespa摩托车的照片，”他说。“我就想，我不知道人们是怎么弄到这张照片的。”

杜伦认为这些照片之所以经久不衰，部分原因在于它们就像一个“时间胶囊”。“这部电影是在iPhone问世的前一年拍摄的，”他说，“我认为这充分说明了这些照片所代表的意义。”此外，照片中还暗含着一种独立电影的颓废风潮。“或许对年轻人来说，这些照片代表着一部很酷的老电影，”杜伦补充道，“看到这些演员年轻时的样子，每个人都在抽烟，这很有意思，让人想起一个不同的时代。”

杜伦的照片中弥漫着一种颓废奢华的气息，这不仅仅是因为照片中的每个人都穿着法国贵族的服饰，豪饮香槟，开怀享用糖果。如今，美国电影业正经历着下行的恶性循环，根据美国劳工统计局的数据，自2022年以来，失业率一直徘徊在30%左右。制片厂制作的电影数量远不及几年前，而不断缩减的电影预算意味着电影的融资都变得异常艰难——更遑论为额外的奢华享受筹集资金了。“我刚到巴黎的时候，感觉片场就像是凡尔赛宫廷的翻版，”杜伦说道，“我们会享用丰盛的午餐……然后这种奢华的氛围会延续到我们的周末和休息日。”书中穿插着剧组人员在他们的“常去之地”Le Baron餐厅跳舞的照片——其中一张是凌晨时分，科波拉睡眼惺忪地被锁在公寓门外的照片，因为杜伦把钥匙弄丢在了舞池里。他说：“我们当时只是一群在巴黎玩得很开心的孩子。”

图片由索菲亚·科波拉提供

杜伦的记录方式与已故纪录片导演埃莉诺·科波拉（她于2024年去世，是索菲亚·科波拉的母亲）截然不同。埃莉诺在片场拍摄了她自己版本的事件。索菲亚和埃莉诺·科波拉在2020年新冠疫情期间共同隔离时开始合作拍摄这部纪念纪录片，最终在母亲去世后由索菲亚完成了影片。

“她是最不引人注目的人之一，”杜伦说。“我的方法是走出去，结交朋友。” 他说，他那台袖珍的康泰时TVS3相机让他可以快速拍照，而且不会打扰到别人。“埃莉诺总是躲在角落里，非常安静，你甚至感觉不到她的存在。她的拍摄方式截然不同，就像一只隐形的苍蝇在墙上观察一样。”

埃莉诺·科波拉在影片拍摄期间拍摄了超过80小时的素材，记录了片场的私密瞬间，包括她女儿对同事们“说教”的短暂不满，以及邓斯特在拍摄间隙被临时拍摄其他项目时礼貌而矛盾的态度。这部纪录片不仅让影迷们以坦诚的视角重温《玛丽·安托瓦内特》，更让观众从一位母亲的独特视角审视整个过程。影片中，演员黛安·琳恩朗读了科波拉的日记片段，回忆了她亲眼见证女儿在事业和创作上的巨大抱负时的心路历程。

纪录片的最后一个镜头是邓斯特慵懒地躺在浴缸里，念着历史上最常被虚构的俏皮话之一——“让他们吃蛋糕吧”。恰如其分的是，这也是在凡尔赛宫片场拍摄的最后一个场景。埃莉诺·科波拉的旁白告诉我们，索菲亚惊讶于他们不仅完成了这部电影，而且还按时按预算完成了拍摄。这些小小的胜利与这部电影在电影史上的地位相比，简直微不足道。

“我不知道现在还有没有人能负担得起拍这样的电影，”杜伦谈到索菲亚·科波拉的这部杰作时说道。“这感觉就像是那种已经过时的电影类型。”

本文部分内容由 CNN 记者 Bianca Betancourt 提供。