“I understand why some might not like Marie-Antoinette, but the idea of people actually booing it is the most hilariously hypocritical thing I’ve heard at Cannes this year. At least half the competition films that I’ve seen, many of them French, have been dull, turgid and labored. Obviously
Marie-Antoinette doesn’t invite emotional responses as strongly as Lost In Translation did, but Coppola seems to be being criticized for what she hasn’t made, as opposed to recognizing what she has. I think it’s a mistake, if not grossly unfair, of you to somehow paint the film as a failure just because of the overblown reactions of a few pompous Euro crits. The only reaction I heard at my screening was a couple of middle-aged women, one of whom remarked to the other ‘Tres, tres bon’, reflecting my response as well.” — Distribution pal who always asks for anonymity. Wells response: It’s fair to report the boos. They were loud and prolonged, and they expressed my own feelings as well as many, many other press people I spoke to afterwards. As I said yesterday, the theme, craft and tonal consistency in Marie-Antoinette qualify it as a well-made film, but the bland thoughtlessness that lies at the center of it — the complete shucking of the elements that give her story resonance — is rancid. And boooo! to that.