Playing as part of 2026 Doc Stories
Roman Coppola, first assistant director and producer on Marie Antoinette, and Davia Nelson, creative consultant for Making Marie Antoinette, are expected to attend for a post-screening Q&A.
In this illuminating behind-the-scenes look at Sofia Coppola’s groundbreaking 2006 period film, Eleanor Coppola reflects, “I love seeing where the illusion of the set meets reality.” That distinction is but one of the fascinating elements of this documentary where actors young and old (Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Asia Argento, and Marianne Faithfull, to name a few) reflect on the experience while still clad in the elaborate costumes and wigs that populate the film (Milena Canonerodeservedly won the Oscar for Best Costume Design). Particularly trenchant is when Coppola catches moments where different crew members —usually men— express how they think things should be done to the nascent young filmmaker. Most touching of all in this posthumous film are Coppola’s reflections from her journal, read by Diane Lane, as she muses about having waited so long to begin her own creative life. —Rod Armstrong