20 years Marie-Antoinette
Let them eat cake!
20 years Marie-Antoinette
Let them eat cake!
20th Anniversary of the Film
Marie Antoinette & Sofia Coppola return to Versailles!
20th Anniversary of the Film
Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola
22 September 2026 – 24 January 2027
Exhibition at the Petit Trianon, Château de Versailles
Sofia Coppola’s Cult Film becomes an Exhibition
Dresses, cakes, pastel colours and plenty of Versailles: 20 years after Sofia Coppola’s cult film hit the big screen, Marie Antoinette is returning to the place where its enchanting world was brought to life. The Château de Versailles is dedicating an entire exhibition to the film at the Petit Trianon. And it is sure to appeal to far more than just film fans.
Because this exhibition is about much more than beautiful costumes and iconic film scenes. It explores how Sofia Coppola created her very own vision of Marie Antoinette – and how the film, in turn, changed the way we see both Marie Antoinette and Versailles.
Marie Antoinette – Reimagined!
Marie-Antoinette Exhibition
Tickets
The details
at a glance
Exhibition
20th Anniversary of the Film
Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola
22 September 2026 – 24 January 2027
Exhibition at the Petit Trianon, Château de Versailles
Opening hours:
Petit Trianon – location of the exhibition:
Until October 31: 12.00 – 18.30 h
November 1 to January 24: 12.00 – 187.30 h
The Palace of Versailles has longer opening hours.
Prices:
Versailles Passport (Palace, Gardens, Petit & Grand Trianon, etc.)
EU citizens: EUR 32 for adults aged 26 and over
EUR 12 for individuals under 26
Free admission for children under 6
Non-EU citizens: EUR 3 extra in each case
-> Same price when booking through us
Grand & Petit Trianon (NO Palace, NO Gardens)
EU citizens: EUR 12 for everyone
Non-EU citizens: EUR 15 for everyone
-> Unfortunately slightly more expensive through us: EUR 17/20 (but by doing so, you would be supporting our work on the site!)
Other Marie Antoinette exhibitions during this period:
Château de Fontainebleau:
1) Marie Antoinette: From Avant-Garde to Avant-Garde
Until 2 November 2026
2) Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI at Fontainebleau: Splendor and the Good Life
11 October 2026 to 25 January 2027
Tickets for the Château de Fontainebleau: EUR 17 (including exhibitions)
When Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette hit cinemas in 2006, it quickly became clear that this was no ordinary historical drama.
Rather than telling the Queen’s story as a comprehensive historical biography, Coppola focuses on the young woman behind the famous figure. A young Marie Antoinette arrives at a foreign court, has to find her way in a world governed by rules and expectations, and experiences loneliness, boredom and the enormous pressure that comes with her position.
It sounds like history. But Coppola tells it in a remarkably modern way.
Adolescence, growing up, finding your own identity and the feeling of somehow not quite fitting into the world around you – these are themes more commonly associated with a modern coming-of-age film than a period drama.
And then, of course, there is the visual style.
Pastel-coloured dresses, extravagant shoes, cakes, champagne, Rococo and pop music: Coppola transformed historic Versailles into a dream world of her own. A world that feels luxurious, playful, slightly melancholic and thoroughly modern at the same time.
Versailles Is – and Always Has Been – More Than Just a Backdrop!
And this is where the exhibition becomes particularly fascinating.
Much of Marie Antoinette was filmed at Versailles. For Sofia Coppola, the château was clearly much more than a convenient filming location. Versailles became an essential part of the film’s visual language and atmosphere – almost a character in its own right.
The exhibition explores precisely this connection. Visitors to the Petit Trianon are not simply looking at objects from a film. They are surrounded by the historic setting that Coppola used to create her own interpretation of Marie Antoinette.
The real Versailles meets the Versailles of the film.
Suddenly, you can look at a room and wonder: What did this space really look like? What did Coppola do with it? Which details were changed for the film? And why does Versailles look so different on screen from the way it feels on a traditional visit to the château?
The exhibition
Marie-Antoinette by Sofia Coppola
A Look Inside
Sofia Coppola’s Creative World
The exhibition takes visitors through the creative process behind the film, bringing together working documents, Sofia Coppola’s early mood boards, costumes and accessories, decorative elements and reconstructed sections.
At first, this might sound like a behind-the-scenes exhibition. But at its heart lies a much more fascinating question: How did Sofia Coppola create the very distinctive world of her Marie Antoinette?
Why these colours? Why these fabrics? And why this unexpected mix of historic Rococo and modern pop culture?
The exhibition explores the visual references and creative decisions that Coppola and her team used to create their own contemporary vision of 18th-century France. The result is a world of delicate pastel shades in which history is not simply recreated, but reimagined.
For fans of the film, this is particularly exciting: rather than simply admiring the finished images, you get a glimpse into how that visual world came to life in the first place.
And Then, Of Course, There Are the Costumes!
In Marie Antoinette, the costumes are an essential part of the story. Designed by Milena Canonero, they earned the film an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 2007. The exhibition features original costumes and accessories, including shoes by Manolo Blahnik.
Those who know the film will instantly recognise some of the pieces. And even if you have never seen it, this is where you will probably understand why its visual style has remained so influential: it is opulent, playful and surprisingly contemporary.
Twenty years after the film’s release, it is no longer simply a question of whether you love Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Its aesthetic has become a visual style in its own right.
You recognise it instantly: pastels, bows, cakes, shoes, Rococo and just a touch of decadent luxury.
Why the
Petit Trianon?
The choice of exhibition venue is perfect. The Petit Trianon tells a very different story of Versailles from the grand ceremonial rooms of the château. It was Marie Antoinette’s personal retreat – a place away from the strict etiquette of court life and the constant scrutiny that came with it.
Here, she was able to create a world of her own.
This fits remarkably well with Coppola’s interpretation of the Queen. Her film is less interested in the powerful monarch on the throne and more in the young woman trying to find her place in a world full of expectations and constraints.
The Petit Trianon thus becomes part of the story itself: a historic retreat, a film location and now an exhibition venue all at once.
Conclusion
Marie Antoinette fans will come for the historical figure.
Film fans for Sofia Coppola.
Fashion lovers for the costumes.
And visitors who already know Versailles will get a completely new perspective on familiar spaces.
And if you simply have a weakness for beautiful imagery, French glamour and a little Rococo extravagance, you are unlikely to be disappointed either.
Seeing a costume behind glass is one thing. Seeing a costume from Marie Antoinette while standing in the very place where the film was shot is a completely different experience.
My tip: Watch the film first – and listen to the soundtrack!
With the film fresh in your mind, the exhibition will probably be even more fun. You will recognise rooms, remember scenes and see how Coppola transformed historic Versailles into her own visual world.
Twenty years on, the film still feels remarkably relevant. Sofia Coppola did not portray Marie Antoinette as some distant historical icon, but as a young woman dealing with very human emotions and problems. At the same time, she transformed Versailles from a symbol of royal power into something intimate, dreamlike and almost otherworldly.
How often do you get the chance to meet Marie Antoinette in the very place where Sofia Coppola reinvented her 20 years ago?
Get your tickets and experience it for yourself!
Yours,
Céline
Official website of the Château de Versailles (EN/FR):
www.chateauversailles.fr/actualites/expositions/marie-antoinette-sofia-coppola
Text and some image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2026
Created with the support of the official press material and AI – because, honestly, I was completely stuck on this one 😉
Other image rights:
Press images: provided via the official Versailles press page.
DVD and soundtrack covers: screenshots sourced from the internet.
Published with permission from the Château de Versailles.
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Leandro Erlich: until 6 September 2026
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FLV: Icons of modern art
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