The Bling Ring
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Emma Watson
Length: 90 minutes
Country: USA
“Live fast, die young/Bad girls do it well”. These are the opening lines and the hook to M.I.A.’s hypnotic 2012 single ‘Bad Girls’, a song abundant with lyrics analogising fast living to fast driving. Singing along to this single, we have intoxicated minor, Chloe (Claire Julien), at the wheel of a car. With her cocksure attitude and her penchant for duck-faced Facebook photos, she is the hilarious embodiment of the haters-gonna-hate swagger of reality TV. It seems inevitable that this scene from The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola’s latest examination of self-entitled, self-involved youth, ends abruptly with a reckless accident. What’s surprising is how little the accident resonates with Chloe or the car’s passengers. There were no substantial repercussions to their bad choices this time around – no one was fatally injured – so, to the deluded teenagers of the Bling Ring, there is nothing to rethink. It is at this point that you begin to worry that they truly will take all the clichéd, youth oriented slogans to heart and live fast until they die young – or at least until their actions catch up to them.
Based on an article from Vanity Fair in 2010, The Bling Ring follows five spoilt, celebrity-obsessed LA teens as they seek to emulate their idols by robbing the houses of such tabloid targets as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. The film’s protagonists, played by a mostly unknown cast, talk openly about going to these houses as if they’re simply arranging to meet at a local boutique. This seems strangely appropriate. Breaking into Paris Hiltons’ house is as simple taking a key from under the doormat, and her wardrobes and closets are practically bursting with designer gear. One imagines that most of the clothing and accessories we witness have been worn in public exactly once, only to be put away forever. At first the Bling Ring seem thrilled over each individual leftover they get to take home for themselves. However, in the spirit of overwhelming excess, they soon stop caring about which specific items they want and start cramming as much stuff into their bags as they physically can – more stuff than they know what to do with. The robberies are no longer about desiring that necklace or those shoes but instead about rising through the ranks of a culture where anyone can be idolised as long as they have enough wealth on display. If anything, the element of danger just adds to the thrill of it, as highlighted by a troubling scene in which one of the girls finds a gun.
Don’t let the ADD-addled trailers fool you. This is a Sofia Coppola film through and through, meaning drama of the strictly low key variety and plenty of subtext…
Thankfully, this is also one Coppola’s funniest films. Leslie Mann delivers steady laughs as the clueless mother, home schooling her three children with new-age naiveté and giving lessons on what makes Angelina Jolie such a good role model. Nonetheless, it’s likely that, for many, the most memorable performance will be that of Emma Watson, who reveals her comedic chops as the delusional Valley princess, Nicki. Some of the film’s most entertaining moments come when she tries to play up her emotions to the cameras once she’s been caught, claiming the experience to be a “huge learning lesson” for her, while sullenly trying to keep her mother from diverting any attention away from her. I hope this isn’t the only time Watson and Coppola work together. It would be interesting to see how Watson would fare if Coppola cast her in a slightly meatier role.
The four lesser known actors which make up the rest of the Bling Ring also turn in impressive performances. Claire Julien is wonderfully brash, but it’s Katie Chang who seems to show the most promise out of the four in her feature debut as the group’s nonchalant leader.
Don’t let the ADD-addled trailers fool you. While this is at least Coppola’s most mainstream film since Lost in Translation, it is still a Sofia Coppola film through and through, meaning drama of the strictly low key variety and plenty of subtext about money and fame not giving you true happiness. If 2010’s contemplative Somewhere bored you out of your mind then, for all the added flash of The Bling Ring, this one isn’t likely to fully win you over. The film’s in-your-face soundtrack and occasional fast edits serve largely to suggest the seductive pull of the excessive lifestyle conveyed to young people by the media. Although, the film remains at a sufficient emotional distance from its subjects to let the audience see how wilfully irresponsible, arrogant and downright idiotic these people are.
That being said, the film is not out to ridicule these teens. Coppola is sure to always keep one eye on the youth-targeting magazines and TV shows which celebrate narcissism and perpetuate the notion that wealth and fame are the cornerstones of any happy and fulfilled life. In doing so, she exposes the Bling Ring for the confused, duped children they really are. All things considered, I couldn’t help but wish that the film had explored in greater depth the psyches of its fascinatingly shallow protagonists but The Bling Ring is still a thoughtfully constructed, darkly funny work that shouldn’t disappoint anyone who has stuck with Coppola through her previous two films. It would be easy to dismiss the film as a work of style over substance but, like Coppola’s divisive 2006 film Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring’s glossy surface and air of superficiality perfectly complement its themes. Take the time to examine this glossy surface and all that lies beneath it and you’re sure to take more away from this film’s true events than its heedless protagonists do.
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