A failure

Rating: 4/10 (24 December 2007)

SPIDERMAN actress Kirsten Dunst plays Marie Antoinette. Director Sofia Coppola, who gave us THE VIRGIN SUICIDES with the same lead actress, presents Marie as a very young and very innocent women sold to foreign royalty and never given a chance to be herself. The result is a "Let them eat cake" lifestyle consisting of endless balls and lessons in silly etiquette. Plus the effort to procure an heir, only her husband (Jason Schwartzmann, of all people) is a gay man who spends a lot of time playing "Hide the fox" with his male buddies. Rip Torn plays the randy old French king, but isn't given much to do. The film unfortunately goes nowhere, and spends most of its long running time in the never-never world of the Palace at Versailles. It's all style and no substance. When you see Sofia Coppola's name attached to a film, you best be beware. She gave us LOST IN TRANSLATION, after all (I still shudder when I think of Bill Murray kissing Scarlett Jo at the end).