THE STORY – Culled from more than 80 hours of footage shot by Eleanor Coppola, this doc takes us behind the scenes of her daughter Sofia’s third film, 2006’s “Marie Antoinette,” capturing the enormous challenge of making an expensive period film while still exploring the theme of wealth amid isolation so present in Sofia’s previous works.
THE CAST – Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Diane Lane, Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Judy Davis, Lance Acord, Marianne Faithfull, Milena Canonero, Molly Shannon, Rip Torn, Roman Coppola, Ross Katz, Steve Coogan & Asia Argento
THE TEAM – Eleanor Coppola (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 86 Minutes
Among the many subgenres of documentary, “making of” documentaries that go behind the scenes of a film as it’s being shot have perhaps fallen on hardest. Once highly regarded, these documentaries were relegated to “bonus features” in DVD box sets, or now to extra drop-downs when the films they cover play on streaming services. But standout “making of” documentaries like Les Blank’s “Burden of Dreams” (which chronicles the making of Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo”) or 2002’s “Lost in La Mancha,” which captures the troubles behind Terry Gilliam’s aborted Don Quixote film, still stand tall to this day.
But the genre’s acknowledged peak remains Eleanor Coppola’s “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Journey,” still unrivaled after 35 years. Granted, her behind-the-scenes footage of her husband Francis’ notoriously troubled shoot for “Apocalypse Now” gave her plenty of drama to work with: star Martin Sheen’s near-fatal heart attack while filming, Typhoon Olga destroying the sets, and Marlon Brando’s decision to ignore the script. But what made the documentary memorable and important was how she shaped the chaos of filming to mirror the anarchy of the war itself.
How fitting then that in 2005, Eleanor was able to return to another set, this time that of her daughter Sofia, who was about to direct her third feature, the $40 million-budgeted “Marie Antoinette.” Sofia had just won the Academy Award for her “Lost in Translation” screenplay, so all of Hollywood’s eyes were on her to see what she would do next. When it was announced that it would be a punk-rock take on the famous French queen, a few knives seemed to come out for her, too. Whether Eleanor was there in a protective capacity as well as a filmmaking one is debatable, but it created a unique mother-daughter collaboration unlike any behind-the-scenes documentary before it.
Most of “Making Marie Antoinette” was filmed during the 12-week shoot, during which Sofia was granted unprecedented access to Versailles, where the film’s events took place centuries earlier. Eleanor and her camera were everywhere, capturing and celebrating the remarkable craft behind the film, from shaping the imaginative production design to creating edible prop food for the banquet scenes that delighted the film’s many extras.
“Making Marie Antoinette” has a breeziness that feels a world away from the endless anxiety that dominated “Hearts of Darkness,” and this new tone seems to have loosened Eleanor’s filming style. Cast members appear anxious to talk with her, from Kirsten Dunst’s rock-solid support of Sofia’s leadership and Jason Schwartzman becoming the set clown for his Aunt Eleanor to a giddy Molly Sweeney and a regal Marianne Faithfull dispensing life lessons with grace. It’s rare in a documentary to see artists of this caliber actually having fun while putting in the hard work.
If there is one artisan whose contribution to the project Eleanor is fixated on, it’s costume designer Milena Canonero, whose work on “Marie Antoinette” earned her her third Academy Award. And little wonder. For Dunst alone, she designed 72 individual gowns, a staggering achievement, not to mention the hundreds of extras who all had to be dressed in period-correct costuming. Beyond that, though, the film reveals just how brilliant she was as an orchestrator of the production’s look, from supervising the cleaning and prepping of the wigs and wardrobe to developing with Sofia the candy coloring for the film that is so intrinsic to the pop aesthetic that Sofia sought to bring to the project.
For fifteen years, the footage Eleanor shot sat collecting dust, but when COVID struck, Sofia joined her mother to form a family cocoon during lockdown. During that time, they revisited the idea of culling the footage into a documentary, something Eleanor had always hoped they could do. While reviewing the footage, Eleanor watched her daughter grow into a major artist with the skill and authority to direct hundreds of artists toward a single vision. It was a power that Eleanor had always wished she had before family and life intervened.
How do we know this about Eleanor’s thoughts, since she died in 2024 before she could finish the final edit? She left a diary behind, chronicling her impressions of the shoot, her pride in Sofia’s accomplishments, and the working relationship they formed while editing the documentary. Sofia, who completed the edit according to her mother’s wishes, has shared those writings with us, voiced throughout the film by actress Diane Lane. Her words provide the heart and soul of “Making Marie Antoinette” and offer insight into the special bond two generations of female filmmakers formed while making this unique documentary.
Certainly, “Making Marie Antoinette” can feel light and enjoyably frothy at times, but just underneath the surface is the beating heart of the love, respect, and pride that one mother has for her daughter, a deeply felt emotion to which we can all relate.
