A friend of mine saw this at the New York Film Festival last year and did not enjoy it. Hearing him talk about it he said that it's obvious historical inacuracies, failed attempt to get the viewer to feel sympathy for Ms. Antoinette and other short commings made this the first kink in an otherwise promising career for Ms. Coppola.
To a certain extent I agree, that was however until I decided to view the film in a different light. If you look at the film just as a character study then of course you are not going to be impressed with these characters. They are the very definition of gluttons and even the attempts to feel sympathy for her (sticking with her husband) came off as another shirking of responsibilites (that of being responsible for the safety and well being of her children). Then I started to think about how visually pleasing and interesting the movie is. When you go from dreary Austria to colorful and vibrant france, the use of many different colors and the choice to use modern music as a symbol of the interchangablitiy of the story I think were great choices by teh director.
I am not impressed with the story, I liked the acting and I loved the style of the film. This is yet another reason why there should be more females out there directing, they bring a visual style and knowledge that I think is hard for the average male to match.