Emma Watson turns to crime in celebrity-obsessed film at Cannes

WORLD OF EXCESS

Emma Watson for 'The Bling Ring' in Cannes

Even when their make-believe celebrity world comes crashing down, the teenagers seem oblivious to the gravity of their crimes and more interested in hyping their new-found notoriety.

Alongside Watson, Katie Chang plays Bling Ring leader Rebecca, while Israel Broussard is her submissive lieutenant with Taissa Farmiga and Claire Julien making up the gang.

The film received favorable reviews after a press screening on the second day of the 12-day Cannes festival, described as a "wily critique of celebrity culture" and an "intuitive and atmospheric tale" with a great soundtrack.

This was a welcome reaction for the American Coppola, whose third film "Marie Antoinette" was booed in 2006 when it made its debut at Cannes, the world's biggest film festival.

Coppola said "The Bling Ring", which opens in the United States in June, was a comment on culture today - both the teenagers' obsession with the celebrity life and the celebrities themselves with houses overflowing with expensive goods.

Paris Hilton, the celebrity heiress, allowed them to film in her real home with shots of a room wall-to-wall with shoes and a pole-dancing table in the middle of a nightclub area.

"The world this film shows is a world of excess," said Coppola. "(Paris Hilton's) house is very exotic. I have never seen anything like it before."

Coppola, 42, whose film "Somewhere" won the top prize at the Venice film festival in 2010, said she met two gang members as she wrote the film to garner extra details but she changed the names in the movie, not wanting to add to their celebrity.

She dismissed complaints by some of the Bling Ring members that the film was "trashy and inaccurate".

"It is not a documentary. I am not too concerned with their reaction," she said.