‘Making Marie Antoinette’ Review – Behind-The-Scenes Documentary Is A Moving Portrait Of A Bond Between A Mother And Daughter

As a movie buff, I am a sucker for the behind-the-scenes features. In the old days, DVDs were chock-full of extras, making-of featurettes, and documentaries. Some say it’s best not to peek behind the curtain, but when it comes to film, give me every detail and backstory on the creative process. Those like me are going to revel in the new documentary Making Marie Antoinette. And for those who take a more passive approach to what goes on behind the camera, the film offers an intimate look at both the process and a tender mother-daughter story.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Sofia Coppola’s bold and provocative Marie Antoinette. To celebrate the film’s milestone, a new documentary offers a behind-the-scenes account of its making. But this is far different from a standard making-of doc. Eleanor Coppola, an acclaimed documentarian and Sofia’s mother, was behind the camera. Filming over eighty hours of behind-the-scenes footage, Making Marie Antoinette began during the pandemic. The two Coppola women edited the 80-hour treasure trove into a film. Over ninety minutes, the film draws on Eleanor’s diaries (voiced by Diane Lane) and weaves a poignant tapestry of creative insight and family bonds.

Eleanor’s personal diaries provide a wonderful frame, allowing her to share insights into what it was like filming on set. She brings a mother’s warmth and insight while also illuminating the filmmaking process. The voice-over narration exists sparingly, allowing much of the film to consist of on-set interviews with Sofia, Kirsten Dunst, and costume designer Milena Canonero. However, when the narration appears, it reveals the blazing passion of a true artist in her own right. The camera is her instrument, capturing the wild, frustrating, exhausting, and magical experience of filmmaking.

I love that this documentary began as a passion project between mother and daughter. All this footage lay locked away, a personal time capsule of a storied film. What began as a project between mother and daughter ultimately became more than making a feature. When Eleanor passed away two years ago, Sofia was determined to finish combing through the footage and assembling a final film that would honor her mother.

The finished film is unique, as it does, of course, capture the highs and lows and everything in between that went into the making of the film. What’s more special here is less about the filmmaking. The documentary zeroes in on an intimate portrait of an artist, both in front of the camera and, in Eleanor’s case, behind it.

There is a magnetism to the way Eleanor moves the camera. Whereas other renderings might result in an off-putting depiction or make the subjects seem stiff, the personal connection, especially between Eleanor and Sofia, allows for a beautiful camaraderie and frank openness.

The film allows Sofia, who finds herself at the Palace of Versailles, to open up about being a young female director at the time. Her cool, unflinching demeanor shines through as she navigates a massive production—$40 million, almost $70 million in today’s money. Couple the on-set interactions and reactions with Eleanor’s diaries, and the film becomes poetry.

Lyrical in a way. The harmony of the creative process is unvarnished yet poignant. The intercutting of narration, where we sometimes hear Eleanor’s reflections on marriage, life in the movie business, or memories of Sofia, creates a tender display of affection and warmth. The lucid feelings tie together as art unfolds behind our eyes.

As an audience member, I often find that these documentaries can feel stagnant or even distant. It becomes museum-minded—like watching a painting hang while someone explains what is happening. Here, there is an ever-present feeling of being on the set. It’s as though we’ve stepped through the looking glass. We stand as a bystander circa 2005 on the set, watching Sofia direct Dunst, capturing the perfect rendition of “Let them eat cake.”

The sincerity of the person behind the camera and the authenticity of the person in front of it make for a revealing documentary that, by the end, is much less about ‘the making of a movie’. Forget the crude banality of watching sausage being made; Making Marie Antoinette captures artists at work. And in this age of artificial, mass-produced, and manufactured slop, it is nice to be reminded of and to see real creativity.

Making Marie Antoinette will release in theaters on October 23, 2026, and will stream on MUBI on November 6th.

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