La Dauphine Marie

Film begins. I'm hearing a familiar angular and spiky guitar. Oh wow, it's Gang of Four! And look, the lettering for the film title is all new-wavey. So this is definitely going to be an interesting watch - a postmodern exhibition of Coppola's take on a the French queen. Oh, I'm a liar. Sorry. This film stinks. Like food scraps left to rot, perhaps? Maybe a croissant. It's a monotonous journey of boredom. Attempts at making it quirky and cute are countered by mundane banter to the point where I was nodding off for an early nap. I realize that it's historically inaccurate. I don't care, that should make for some more artistic freedom. I realize that Antoinette lived in her own confined world. Fine by me. Poor plot, acting gone awry, disastrous dialogue. Not cool.

I can't fault the soundtrack though. Like Lost In Translation before this, Sofia Coppola has a proven knack for putting together quality soundtracks. It's a nice mix of ambience, post-punk, indie, and electronic. And I'm quite glad to see the Radio Dept. having a prominent role in this - very deserving. The inclusion of 'I Want Candy' is a clear jab at Marie's childlike demeanor (and subsequently her scorned presence at Versailles), but Shields' remix is nothing of importance. I prefer his work done on 'Fools Rush In' - very surreal.

Soundtrack listing courtesy Wikipedia:

Disc One:

1. "Hong Kong Garden" – Siouxsie & The Banshees [mp3]
2. "Aphrodisiac" – Bow Wow Wow
3. "What Ever Happened" – The Strokes
4. "Pulling Our Weight" – The Radio Dept.
   
5. "Ceremony" – New Order
6. "Natural's Not in It" - Gang of Four [mp3]
   
7. "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Bow Wow Wow
   
8. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" – Adam & The Ants
9. "Concerto in G" – Antonio Vivaldi / Reitzell
10. "The Melody of a Fallen Tree" – Windsor for the Derby
11. "I Don’t Like It Like This" – The Radio Dept.
12. "Plainsong" – The Cure

Disc Two:

1. "Intro Versailles" – Reitzell / Beggs
2. "Jynweythek Ylow" – Aphex Twin
3. "Opus 17" – Dustin O’Halloran
4. "Il Secondo Giorno (Instrumental)" – Air
5. "Keen On Boys" - The Radio Dept. [mp3]
6. "Opus 23" – Dustin O’Halloran
7. "Les Baricades Misterieuses" – Francois Couperin / Reitzell
8. "Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Bow Wow Wow [mp3]
9. "Avril 14th" – Aphex Twin
10. "K. 213" – Domenico Scarlatti / Reitzell
11. "Tommib Help Buss" – Squarepusher
12. "Tristes Apprets.." – Jean Philippe Rameau / W. Christie
13. "Opus 36" – Dustin O’Halloran
14. "All Cats Are Grey" – The Cure

Buy it here. Enjoy it. It's one of the better OSTs I've seen in recent years.