Just wanted to point out www.emvidal.com, which is the blog of Elena Maria Vidal (aka Mary Eileen Russell), author of Trianon, a historical fiction novel about the life of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and Madame Royale, the sequel concerning the life of the Queen's daughter after the French Revolution.
Russell also reviews Sofia Coppola's recent film about Marie Antoinette. Christina and I went to see this film a few weeks ago. While I loved the film's use of scenary and costume, I agree with Russell's review for the most part, particularly this:
The Coppola film ends when the Revolution begins, at the moment when as Marie-Antoinette came into her own as the daughter of a great empress and as a queen who would not forsake her husband or her duty, even when to do so cost her her life. The new generation of movie goers will be deprived of such an inspiration that would be so powerful on screen. Antoinette's Christian fortitude is ignored and her personal tragedy is trivialized amid a movie of froth. Without the spiritual depths, the depiction is shallow and incomplete. I do not begrudge people their enjoyment of an art film about decadent adolescents romping at Versailles, surrounded by pastries and champagne, but the real Marie-Antoinette seems to be missing.I guess the bloody details of revolution, courage, and martyrdom are too much real history for today's adolescents to appreciate...
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