Eleanor Coppola's Marie Antoinette Doc: Sweet Family Film — SkimNews
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- Eleanor Coppola's documentary 'Making Marie Antoinette' offers a behind-the-scenes look at daughter Sofia's 2006 film, edited together during the COVID lockdown before Eleanor's death in 2024
- The original 2006 'Marie Antoinette' starring Kirsten Dunst drew boos from French critics, who objected to its 70s/80s pop soundtrack, fashion-show aesthetic, and near-absence of French actors
- Diane Lane reads Eleanor's diary entries, which include reflections on the painful period when Sofia broke off contact with her as a teenager
- Francis Ford Coppola appears briefly and describes his advice to Sofia as 'throw a Marie Antoinette party and invite everyone to come to it'
- The documentary is a tonal contrast to Eleanor's earlier, far more explosive 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' about the making of her husband's 'Apocalypse Now'
Why it matters: Eleanor Coppola's posthumous documentary serves as a gentle coda to a divisive 2006 film, giving Marie Antoinette's defenders a family-eye view of its production and offering a softer counterpart to her earlier, far more turbulent 'Hearts of Darkness' chronicle of the Coppola filmmaking dynasty.
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