Long before there was Paris Hilton, there was the Teen Queen of Paris, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) who pissed off a nation with her nonsense $pending, and was eventually sent to the guillotine. Following her brilliant directorial debut for “Lost In Translation” this time writer/director Sofia Coppola tells the tale of the betrothed Austrian Duchesse sent to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) in hopes of strengthening a nation. From the moment Marie Antoinette arrives, her doggie is taken away (she is told she must forfeit her pet pug for a poodle and [only] all things French). Antoinette should have recognized this as a sign of things to come, gotten back in the royal carriage, and returned to her Austrian motherland, but alas, the Princess chose to stay in the boring world of the King (Rip Torn) setting up her new home in Versailles, and turning her life into something out of MTVs “Cribs.” While we’re accustomed to period pieces with dignity and sophistication, this one uses modern day soundtrack, making us feel like Antoinette is on a shopping spree of spoiled upper-east-side girls frolicking through the sales rack at Bergdorf’s half-off event. And so the story goes with her partying, friskiness and shoe fetish. In the end, the movies leaves us little except a smidge of knowledge into French history and the eventual demise of Versailles. Two tiaras.
