Twenty years ago, while Sofia Coppola filled Versailles with pastel silks, towering wigs and a punk-pop soundtrack, her mother stood quietly at the edge of the set with a camera. Eleanor Coppola shot around eighty hours of footage. Mother and daughter began shaping it during lockdown, and after Eleanor’s death in 2024 Sofia finished the job.
Making Marie Antoinette is the result: not just a making-of, but a tender double portrait of two women and two generations, told through the eyes of someone who loved the director more than anyone else on set.
Making Marie Antoinette is a making-of film that turns out to be a love letter from a mother to her daughter.
Movie at a Glance
- UK and Ireland cinemas: 23 October 2026 (limited), through MUBI
- US release: 23 October 2026 in select cinemas; streaming on MUBI from 6 November 2026
- Director: Eleanor Coppola, completed by Sofia Coppola
- Featuring: Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman and Rose Byrne
- Journal readings: Diane Lane
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- UK certificate: 12A
- Genre: Documentary
Viewer Match
- Best for: Sofia Coppola devotees, period-drama lovers and anyone fascinated by how films are really made.
- Maybe skip if: You want a rigorous, warts-and-all production exposé.
- Mood and pace: Relaxed, affectionate and gently wistful.
- Cinema or streaming? Ideal in a cinema alongside the 4K re-release of the original, or at home on MUBI.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: it is a documentary about a 2006 film.
A Seat at the Versailles Party
The pleasures here are many and specific. We watch costume designer Milena Canonero’s team at work on gown after gown for Kirsten Dunst, wigs being washed and powdered daily, banquet tables groaning with edible food set in wobbling jelly. We see cast and extras learning to bow eighteenth-century style, Jason Schwartzman noodling on an organ, Rose Byrne cracking jokes and Dunst reflecting candidly on what it means to grow up under public scrutiny.
Members of the Coppola clan drift into frame, from Roman directing second unit to Francis Ford Coppola dispensing encouragement. For fans of the original film, it is a treasure trove.
Eleanor’s Voice
What turns all this into something richer is Eleanor herself. Extracts from her journals, read with warmth and introspection by Diane Lane, run through the film like a private conversation. She is proud, protective and occasionally worried, noting that her daughter looks too small to be running a vast production, and wondering aloud why she herself spent so many years as an observer of her family’s creativity rather than pursuing her own.
Those reflections give the documentary its emotional weight. It becomes a film about how two generations of women experienced ambition differently, and about the quiet power of the person holding the camera.
Light Touch, Lasting Feeling
Eleanor’s approach is unobtrusive and patient. She describes documentary-making as a kind of fishing, waiting for something interesting to happen, and the film does not force drama where there was none. That means it can feel like a loose, affectionate scrapbook rather than a shaped argument, and viewers with no attachment to Marie Antoinette may find its rhythms meandering.
But the editing is graceful, the archive looks lovely, and the music choices playfully echo the original’s anachronistic spirit. At under ninety minutes, it never outstays its welcome.
A Fitting Tribute
This is a gentle film rather than a revelatory one, but it is made with such love that it is hard to resist. As a companion to one of the most distinctive period films of the century, and as a farewell to a remarkable documentary-maker, it is a gift.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Making Marie Antoinette is a lush, intimate and quietly moving companion piece, as much about a mother’s gaze as about the making of a modern classic.
- Performances: 8/10
- Direction: 8/10
- Screenplay: 7.5/10
- Score: 7.5/10
- Cinematography: 7.5/10
- Entertainment Value: 8/10
- Overall score: 8/10
Star rating: 4/5
Verdict badge: Worth Seeing
One-line verdict: A tender, gorgeous behind-the-scenes treasure that doubles as a heartfelt family portrait.
Watch the Official Trailer
Step onto Sofia Coppola’s Versailles set in the official trailer.
Is Marie Antoinette a misunderstood masterpiece? Tell us your spoiler-free view.