'This, Madame, is Versailles.' [crowd cheering]

Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola’s very best film, dives headfirst into exploring the historical figure’s most enduring legacy—saying “let them eat cake” about the bread shortage in France. We see the Queen of France (Kirsten Dunst) say the line glibly, filmed with the color just slightly desaturated compared to what has come before it. She wears dark, evil lipstick, a shade we haven’t seen before and won’t again. Then immediately, she’s with her ladies-in-waiting, where they are talking about the rumor of this cruel line. “I would never say that!” Marie Antoinette says.

The movie presents this at face value. Marie Antoinette (do I have to refer to her by both names? Do any historical scholars follow me, did she go by simply “Marie?”) would never say that! Certainly not maliciously. But she would say it, with unaware blithe indifference. At another point, when the queen learns about how hard it is for the peasants, she says, fine, don’t send us diamonds anymore. That will alleviate them in their taxes. She looks so satisfied when she says it—she solved politics and hunger!