Critics and audiences have been drastically polarized by Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.” It was nominated for a Golden Palm Award at The Cannes Film Festival, where it had been booed during its screening days before. People seem to either love it or hate it, but it deserves neither — it’s an average film.

Kirsten Dunst stars as the title character, the misunderstood queen of France during the late 18th century. At 14, the former Austrian princess was given to Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) of France, forming an alliance. Unfortunately, King Louis XV (Rip Torn) died of small pox while the two were still in their teens. Their inability to run France in his stead led to the revolution in 1789 and her eventual beheading.

Her history isn’t important, because Coppola focuses the film’s two hours on Antoinette’s intimate surroundings rather than on her politics. In fact, she barely leaves the confines of the Palace of Versailles, where the French government gave her permission to shoot her film.

Like Coppola’s previous works, “Virgin Suicides” and “Lost in Translation,” “Maria Antoinette” is the story of a woman trapped by a culture that cherishes her but at the same time does not appreciate her. She has the important role of uniting two countries, yet before she is given over, she is strip-searched in front of a crowd to check for deformities. On her wedding night, she is followed into her room by her new husband’s friends and family and told, “Good luck, and get to work.”

Antoinette is a child confined to a strictly adult life. She was so preoccupied with following the traditions and guidelines put before her, she had no comprehension of crime or poverty. After being told of people starving and unable to find bread to eat, she famously replied, “Then let them eat cake.”

She lives in an entirely new world privileged to very few, and Coppola takes time to slowly and deliberately reveal the stunning visuals of the young queen’s surroundings. From the extravagant dresses and the gorgeous paintings to the floral arrangements beside her bed, Coppola takes us back to the 1700’s.

The problem is that Coppola spends too much time on atmosphere and not enough time on plot. There’s no story. It’s like traveling on a slow, meandering stream that trickles past beautiful countryside but ends up in the same place it began. After a while it became boring, something Coppola’s other movies definitely didn’t do.

In order to enjoy the movie, you have to accept it on its own terms — be patient. It doesn’t tell the story of the famous Marie Antoinette. Instead it shows a child thrust into an extravagantly suffocating world in which she is unprepared.

It’s pretty, but that doesn’t make it good.