Marie Antoinette soundtrack

This 2 CD set is the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Marie Antoinette, the new Sony Pictures film by Sofia Coppola. Matching Coppola’s modern take on the story of this 18th Century leader with a mix of ‘80s new wave, electronica, and classical works from artists ranging from Siouxsie and the Banshees (“Hong Kong Garden”) and The Cure (“Plainsong,” “All Cats Are Grey”) to Antonio Vivaldi (“Concerto in G”).

The music reflects Coppola’s intention to tell the story in a modern way. While writing the script, she found inspiration from the New Romantic pop music movement of the 1980s — which was itself heavily influenced by 18th century ideals of extravagance. New Romantic artists such as Bow Wow Wow (“I Want Candy) and Adam Ant (“Kings of the Wild Frontier”) celebrated glamour, luxurious fashion, and hedonistic fun during that period as a kind of counterpoint to both the boredom of classic rock and the primal anger of punk music. Coppola saw the music as a modern lens through which to view Marie Antoinette – and songs such as “I Want Candy” seemed to serve as a perfect, modern expression of Marie Antoinette’s impulses to find fulfillment through pleasure.

Coppola turned to music supervisor Brian Reitzell (who worked on her previous films, Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides) to discuss music in the tone she was thinking of while writing. Reitzell mixed “Versailles CDs” that included such artists as Bow Wow Wow, New Order (“Ceremony”), Adam Ant, and other post-punk romantic music.”

“It was all very organic,” he continues. “The story dictated the music, which follows the dramatic arc. We set it all up in the opening credits with the Gang of Four song “Natural’s Not in It” — which prepares you musically and lyrically for what’s going to happen. Later, there is an Aphex Twin piece, "Jynweythek Ylow,” which is played when Marie Antoinette first enters Versailles, which actually sounds like that place. What I love about it is that you can’t tell if it’s a harpsichord or string instrument that’s playing.”

Also included on the soundtrack are even more modern groups such as The Strokes (“What Ever Happened”), Squarepusher (“Tommib Help Buss”), Air ("Il Secondo Giorno [Instrumental]"), The Radio Dept. (“Pulling Our Weight,” “Keen on Boys”), and Windsor for the Derby (“The Melody Of A Fallen Tree”).

The eclectic blend of sounds, Reitzell maintains, “makes it a lot easier to put yourself in the movie. The music resonates because it shows how these people really were. For most of the movie, Marie Antoinette is an adolescent and it would have been a lot harder to get across her teen angst with a Masterpiece Theater type of soundtrack.” The result is this double disc Verve Forecast release, “a post-punk-pre-new-romantic-rock- opera odyssey with some 18th century music and some very new contemporary music,” as Reitzell calls it.

Oscar winner Sofia Coppola brings to the screen an imaginative interpretation of the life of France’s legendary teenage queen Marie Antoinette. When betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) enters the opulent French court which is steeped in conspiracy and scandal. Without guidance, adrift in a dangerous world, the young girl rebels against the isolated atmosphere at Versailles and becomes France’s most misunderstood monarch. Marie Antoinette opens on October 20, 2006.