“Let’s go to Paris’s! I wanna rob.” You know a movie is good when it has a token catchphrase even before it comes out, and this phrase, uttered by Emma Watson as Nicki, demonstrates the infectious energy of Sofia Coppola’s latest film. The Bling Ring, written and directed by Coppola, is based on a Vanity Fair piece by Nancy Jo Sales; and some of the most memorable lines in the film are direct quotes from the real-life rich-kid burglars, a group of teens from wealthy LA suburbs who robbed the homes of several celebrities in 2008 and 2009.  

Played by Watson, Taissa Farmiga and a cast of relatively unknown fresh faces including Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, and Georgia Rock, the clique comes to life. The nuances of their young selves, caught somewhere between posturing, persona, and personality, are immediately engaging. There are moments of bravado, (describing entering Paris’s house with a key left under the mat: “It was chill.”) and moments of innocence (Watson’s and Chang’s characters kneel before purse collections and vanities like they’re at church). 

While some of the officers involved in the investigation thought the Bling Ring was motivated by the money, Coppola’s film focuses on the more widely accepted impetus behind the crimes: fame. In the film, each of the characters has a reason to want to feel close to the world of wealth and attention that lies just a few miles away. They don’t just want clothes, they want Audrina Patridge’s clothes. They don’t want to rob a house, they want to “go to Paris.” In the film, it’s as much about the stars as it is the stuff. 

But oh, the clothes. The volume of decadence contained in these closets is staggering, and Coppola’s film captures that early-2000s obsession with status. The characters want to attend the same schools as the Hills girls, dress like Lindsay, party like Paris. They want “Victoria’s Secret model clothes,” and the film intercuts celebrity footage, and Facebook photos of the friends doing their best TMZ at Hollywood clubs, with the narrative. But all of this is rendered through Coppola’s distinct aesthetic, meaning that even the most brutal scenes, like a drunk-driving car crash, take on a surreal, poetic beauty. The soundtrack is one that’s meant to be blared through expensive speakers, and the film is almost tactile: as the friends run their fingers over sequins and furs, finger watches and diamonds, and slide up and down on the stripper pole in Paris’s nightclub room, we can almost feel the sensation of “all of these beautiful, gorgeous things,” made more electric by their association to beautiful, gorgeous people. 

The Bling Ring surges with the kind of manic, addictive, and indulgent energy that captures its characters as they revel in their misdeeds. A definite must-see. 

The Bling Ring is in theatres June 21st