The third feature film from Oscar-winning writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, 2003) transposes her fascination with the inner lives of young women to 18th century Versailles with this semi-biographical story of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France from 1774 to 1793. Inspired by her favorite period dramas and biopics, including Ken Russell’s Lisztomania (1975) and Milos Forman’s Amadeus (1984), Coppola gained extraordinary access to shoot at the Palace at Versailles, and her attention to production design and costuming details cushion her characters in lavish, insulated surroundings—and garnered the film’s costume designer Milena Canonero her third Oscar win. Punctuated with anachronistic postpunk and new wave music, Coppola’s refreshing take on a centuries-old history brings the woes of the past into sharp comparison with present-day concerns of girls, teens, and young women for a deeply felt and beautifully rendered cinematic achievement.

In a separately ticketed event before the screening, Sofia Coppola and photographer Andrew Durham sign copies of their new book, Making Marie Antoinette, at the Academy Museum Store.  

Programmed and note by K.J. Relth-Miller.