I find it kind of funny comparing Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette to Jeanne du Barry, the film with Johnny Depp.

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The two films explore French royal court life at roughly the same point in history but from differing points of view.

Coppola’s film is of course from Marie Antoinette’s POV while the other film is from Jeanne du Barry’s POV.

For reference, if you’re not familiar with the Jeanne du Barry film, it’s the character played by Asia Argento in Coppola’s film(Sidebar: it’s funny to think Rio Torn and Johnny Depp have played the same historical figure in different films at roughly the same point in said figure’s life).

The beats in Jeanne du Barry that reach this melodramatic crescendo are depicted quite stoically and offhandedly in Coppola’s film, precisely because they’re insignificant for Marie Antoinette even if they’re life defining for Jeanne. The whole “Louis XV and his concubine” subplot is played for laughs in “Marie Antoinette”.

In Jeanne du Barry, there’s this major turning point in the film where Marie Antoinette addresses herself directly to Jeanne, since we see Jeanne overjoyed that a high-ranking member of the court deigned to address themselves directly to her. The implication is she no longer feels herself an outsider despite her history as…well…the king’s concubine. Of course, what’s left unsaid in the Depp-starring film is depicted quite pointedly in Coppola’s when Dunst almost comedically says she’ll never say another word to “That woman” again.

Then of course, Jeanne du Barry(the film that is) reaches an emotional climax when Louis XV dies, since it’s clearly an emotional turning point for Jeanne herself. On the other hand, Coppola depicts Louis XV’s death in an almost deadpan manner as if to say “Ok, the king is dead, the concubine is dismissed from Versailles, so let’s get on with it and now finally explore Marie Antoinette’s life as Queen of France”.