Based closely on the Vanity Fair article ‘The Suspects Wore Louboutins’ by Nancy Jo Sales, The Bling Ring fictionalises the robberies committed by a gang of wealthy teenagers who burgled, with surprising ease, the LA mansions of several celebrities.

Retracing themes explored in her last two features, Marie Antoinette and Somewhere, Coppola touches upon the isolation and loneliness that come with the excesses of luxury and fame.

What lies at the centre of The Bling Ring is a clichéd appetite for celebrity and all its material accoutrements. The gang’s conspicuous consumption and celebrity-worship seem more depraved that their moral corruption and violation of privacy. Long takes and wide shots imply a detached and observational tone, which fits comfortably with Coppola’s apparent impartiality.

Yet this comes across primarily as a lack of engagement and focus and instils The Bling Ring with a banal superficiality that cannot be undone even by its occasional moments of clarity and beauty.