ABSTRACT
As Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006) opens, the title character (Kirsten Dunst) lies listlessly on a lavish chaise, surrounded by extravagant pink cakes set against a pastel blue background. 1 Framed in long shot, she reaches over to lightly scoop a dollop of frosting from the top of a cake as a maid slips ornate shoes on her feet. With this gesture, she turns her head toward the camera and, after the briefest of moments, looks directly at the lens with a knowing smile. This introduction puts into play a visual tension between seeing and being seen. It communicates a preoccupation with Marie’s excessive consumption and the way that she co-creates herself as a material object. The opening shot’s emphasis on spectacle poses a question concerning the relationship between self-representation and image production, one that is explored in all of director Sofia Coppola’s films.
