Marie Antoinette

MARIE ANTOINETTE — ** — Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Coogan; rated PG-13 (vulgarity, partial nudity, violence, brief sex, brief drugs).

An opening vignette for "Marie Antoinette" gives us our first view of the title character (played by Kirsten Dunst) as she licks frosting off a cake while her attendant places shoes on her feet.

The snippet is an obvious allusion to the infamous "Let them eat cake!" quotation attributed to the ill-fated French queen. And that bit of irreverence tells us everything we need to know about the film itself, which is also irreverent and not very subtle.

For example, filmmaker Sofia Coppola uses such anachronistic touches as modern-day music and modern-looking actors to spoof the superficiality and tackiness of the time period. Which makes it all the more ironic that her biographical drama is itself pretty superficial and tacky.

It doesn't help that Dunst plays the French monarch as a spoiled, naive young girl with a taste for the good things in life. In this version of her story, supposedly inspired by author Antonia Fraser's biography, the Austrian aristocrat is married off at a young age to Louis (Jason Schwartzman).

It's a move that's supposed to help further the Franco-Austrian Alliance and strengthen Louis' eventual ascendancy to the throne. The idea is for Louis and Marie to produce a male heir to rule both countries eventually.

But their passionless marriage makes that impossible, and besides, Marie is caught up in various other pursuits. While France's contributions to the American Revolution have left the country nearly bankrupt, she continues to spend money on shoes and retreats.

Throughout the film's first half, screenwriter/director Coppola ("Lost in Translation") maintains a light tone that suggests we're supposed to laugh at this nonsense. Also, few of the cast members use accents, while Aussie actors Judy Davis and British thespian Steve Coogan just use their normal speech.

But things take an overly serious tone in the second half and Coppola fumbles away several promising dramatic elements, especially an ineffective ending.

As for Dunst, there's nothing she does here that couldn't have been done by Jessica Simpson.

At least Schwartzman looks amused.

"Marie Antoinette" is rated PG-13 for suggestive sexual language and humor (including flatulence), partial female nudity and artwork (statues), some war violence (mostly overheard), a brief sex scene and some sexual contact, brief drugs. Running time: 123 minutes.

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